As a community leader and organizer, Shimada’s résumé speaks to the film’s themes of women of color in the political sphere. Her experience also includes a past job with the nation’s first-ever National Historical Reserve, co-founding of the Agricultural Resources Committee for Island County, being a board member for the Economic Development Council for Island County, and being an ambassador for the Embrace Whidbey and Camano Islands (tourism board) creative team. Her lecture, “20,000 years in 20 Minutes: A History of Land Use on Whidbey,” first became popular in 2022, focusing on history through the land’s perspective instead of spending time on a specific person or date. She is expanding on this series to include modern-day, community-building approaches to how we engage with our island community.