A first-generation Nigerian-American, Adetoro Makinde is an award-winning filmmaker. Prior to her career at Georgetown University, Makinde began her creative journey at the famous Duke Ellington School of the Arts. She launched her production company Backdoor Films, and its social impact subsidiary Hyphenate Africa, producing and directing multiple film premieres at the Sundance Film Festival. Her portfolio of diverse projects spans from the Golden Globe nominated film The Tale,  to social impact-focused narratives like The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, to documentaries like Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski. She has produced and worked with companies like HBO, Participant Media, Netflix, and high profile actors like Leonardo DiCaprio. Some of current projects include a Hurricane Katrina biopic, The American Can, which is based on her original script, and an experimental documentary short on ableism and racial justice, In the Wake of Mourning.

Makinde is the recipient of fellowships from Film Independent’s Project Involve, Facebook SEEN, Blackhouse Multicultural Producers, Made in NY, Kodak Sundance Filmmaker, and grants from NY Foundation for the Arts, City of New York Mayor Office, Ford Foundation, IFP | NYSCA, and HBO Corporate and Social Responsibility. She is the former chair of diversity, equity, and inclusion for Film Fatales, and is the current president and co-founder of Women Independent Producers. For Women History Month 2022, IMDBPro selected Makinde as “Female Producer To Watch" in the indie genre.