Meet MATR

Amanda Chen has spent 20 years as a strategist and creative leader working at the intersection of culture, storytelling, philanthropy and systems change. As co-founder of MATR Labs, she helps organizations and funders translate complex social priorities into compelling narrative strategies, creative platforms and audience engagement opportunities. Her work brings together strategic thinking, creative development and partnership building to help institutions understand not simply what they want to communicate, but how stories can move people, shape culture and create momentum for change.

As Senior Vice President of Impact at Participant, Chen led the company’s Impact and Engagement work and a team of impact strategists, overseeing impact strategy and partnerships across Participant’s documentary and narrative film and TV slate. She produced impact campaigns for critically acclaimed and award-winning films on issues including mental health care for the healthcare workforce, harm reduction, environmental and climate justice, access to education and human rights, and directed foundation work for Participant’s agency. In 2017, she initiated and oversaw Participant’s first B Corp certification, which led to ongoing internal programs to improve the company’s social and environmental practices.

Before focusing on Participant’s content slate, Chen built and oversaw TakePart World, a multimedia global health and development series on Participant’s digital and TV platforms, funded by the Gates Foundation.

Prior to Participant, Chen was Head of Global Health and Associate Director of Commitments at the Clinton Global Initiative. She oversaw global health programming, managed a portfolio of 260 commitments and developed new commitments on the health of women and children, nutrition, and agriculture and food systems, building partnerships across sectors for change. She also designed protocols for impact analysis and led the strategy to evolve CGI’s model for greater connection through network design.

Chen is a Southern California Leadership Network Fellow and was named one of Variety’s New Hollywood Leaders in Social Impact in 2018. She holds a B.A. in International Development from UCLA and an M.A. in Global Political Economy from UCSB.

A 30-year entertainment industry veteran, Copland has worked in the specialty film sector for most of her career, with the goal of democratizing distribution for unique, independently produced projects. As Co-founder of MATR Labs, Liesl brings her extensive marketplace experience, her digital media experience and credibility, talent relationships and deep strategic advisory expertise to bear on projects from development to release with a specialty in sales, distribution and audience amplification strategies for content in all formats.

As Executive Vice President of Content Strategy at Participant, Liesl oversaw Participant’s global sales efforts and worked in tandem with the company’s content teams throughout development and production, advising on optimal strategic options and partner strategy for all of Participant’s projects. She also worked within the C-suite on M&A and the company’s larger strategic objectives ensuring that the company’s impact-focused slate met the demands of the marketplace and found the widest possible audience.

Prior to Participant, Liesl worked at powerhouses including WME, Netflix and Endeavor Content, and is known for advising companies and A-list creatives on the always evolving media landscape. Her deep and varied experience allows her to bring her market focus to high-quality, talent led, vision based film and television projects.

Before joining Participant, Copland was a Partner and EVP at Endeavor Content where she ran their Documentary practice after years of being at WME focused on film advisory, sales and financing. She oversaw feature documentaries and premium nonfiction series and provided strategic advice to the studio’s growing production partners. During her twelve years with the Endeavor suite of companies, Copland focused on the emerging digital distribution space as part of her corporate advisory work and consulted for numerous startups.

Prior to joining Endeavor in 2008, Copland acted as the Head of Red Envelope Entertainment, the former original content division of Netflix, where she oversaw the acquisition, marketing and distribution of close to 100 films a year during their three years in existence. She developed a reputation for successfully forging innovative partnerships with studios and mini-majors, boutique distribution labels and nontraditional, new media-focused outlets. Her previous entertainment industry experience includes time at New York-based Cinetic Media, years as an independent producer as well as posts at the Tribeca Film Festival and IFP.

Across her entire career, Copland has built in a double bottom line approach to her practice and has a deep focus on social justice reform and impact focused content. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and serves on the Board of Represent Justice as well as the advisory boards of SommTV and EngageStream. Copland is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley with degrees in both English Literature and Art History.

Jannat Gargi is an Emmy and Peabody-winning producer, known for her work on the Academy Award-winning documentary, Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised). With over 25 years in the entertainment industry, Gargi has a proven track record for developing and producing a wide range of acclaimed, cause based documentary films and series. As co-founder of MATR Labs, she brings her decades long passion for producing documentaries which shine a light on many of our most pressing social issues including climate change, wildlife conservation, human trafficking, mental health, homelessness, recidivism, inequality and access to arts and education for all.

As SVP of Documentaries for Westbrook Studios (founded by Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith), Gargi established the documentary division with a premium slate of films including Copa71, with executive producers Serena and Venus Williams, The Debutantes (Peacock), Good Shot executive produced by Stephen Curry and Full Circle: The First All Black Everest Ascent which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2025. Prior to joining Westbrook, Gargi served as VP of Documentaries for VICE Studios overseeing development and production for a slate of documentaries and series including three-time Academy Award nominated documentary FLEE (2022) and The American Gladiators for ESPN’s 30 For 30 series (2023).

Prior to VICE Studios, Gargi served as Head of Documentary Films for Vulcan Productions (founded by Paul G. Allen) where she developed and produced numerous social impact documentary films including Academy Award nominated Lead Me Home (2022), News & Documentary Emmy nominated LIFT (2023), Master of Light, Grand Jury Prize winner SXSW (2022), Academy Award nominated Hunger Ward (2021), Sundance Audience Award-winner The Reason I Jump (2019), and Academy Award nominated and Emmy Award-winner Body Team 12 (2016). In her work as an independent, Gargi co-directed and produced Fletcher Street (2026) with Executive Producer Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson. Gargi served as showrunner and producer of the true crime limited series Murder Among the Mormons with BBC Studios (Netflix, 2021), co-executive produced the Academy Award nominated short documentary Knife Skills (2018) and produced the Emmy nominated documentary CIRCO (2010).

Gargi is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Documentary Branch (AMPAS), Producers Guild of America (PGA), serves on the Board of Directors for Washington FilmWorks and The Redford Center Board of Directors, a non-profit that harnesses the power of media to engage people and galvanize environmental action. Gargi is a graduate of the University of Washington with a B.A. in English Literature and minor in Film Studies.