Our Team

Family Legacy Archives is led by a small, senior team of media and storytelling professionals, supported by a trusted network of long-standing collaborators. Every project is overseen with care, discretion, and direct involvement from our leadership.

Samantha Fogel
Founder/Executive Producer

Samantha Fogel brings more than 25 years of experience in visual storytelling across television, digital media, and documentary production. She has produced and directed programming for a wide range of major networks, brands, and institutions, including NBC, Lifetime, MTV Networks, Food Network, A&E, PBS, HGTV, Hearst, Sony Music, Yahoo!, Samsung, WebMD, Fast Company, and Verdigreen Hotels.

Over the course of her career, Samantha has conducted hundreds of interviews with an extraordinarily broad range of individuals — from artists, entrepreneurs, and educators to public figures and individuals sharing deeply personal life experiences. Her work reflects discernment and sensitivity, grounded in sound editorial judgment and a deep respect for the trust inherent in telling other people’s stories.

She founded Family Legacy Archives to bring this same level of care, craft, and professionalism to families seeking to preserve their histories with intention and discretion. As Founder and Executive Producer, Samantha is directly involved in every project, guiding both the creative vision and the personal experience for each family she serves.

“As an adult, I now understand why my grandparents told me their stories again and again — stories of surviving the Depression, changing identities for the 1939 World’s Fair, escaping pogroms in Lithuania, and the moment my grandparents fell in love. These stories are conduits to the past and lessons for the future. Preserving my own family’s legacy in a digital archive became an invaluable gift, and it inspired me to help other families do the same.”

  • Michael Pearlman

    DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY

    Michael Pearlman is an award-winning Director of Photography with extensive experience across documentary, television, and feature production. His work spans dozens of short films, multiple full-length features, and hundreds of hours of broadcast programming.

    As a multicamera director, Michael served as a key creative force on the long-running Food Network series Chopped, and directed more than 30 culinary-based competition series. His career has also included a strong focus on fashion and design storytelling, with credits including the widely recognized series Project Runway.

    Michael has collaborated with a broad range of major networks and media organizations, including NBC, CBS, ABC, Bravo, Food Network, HGTV, Discovery Networks, and others. His approach is defined by technical excellence, visual sensitivity, and a deep respect for the people and stories he is filming.

    Michael has worked closely with Family Legacy Archives since its founding, serving as a trusted creative partner across projects.

  • Scott Silva

    EDITOR

    Scott Silva is an award-winning editor, colorist, producer, and director with more than two decades of experience across television, documentary, and digital media. His work spans a wide range of formats, including music programming, documentaries, unscripted series, docu-dramas, competition shows, and promotional content.

    Scott brings a rare combination of creative intuition, technical precision, and organizational rigor to every project. His editorial approach is defined by clarity, pacing, and an ability to shape complex material into cohesive, emotionally resonant narratives.

    Over the course of his career, Scott has collaborated with numerous major networks and media organizations, including ABC, NBC, CBS, HBO, A+E, Discovery, Bravo, Food Network, History Channel, MTV, VH1, USA Network, and Sony Music. His work is valued for its craftsmanship, discretion, and deep respect for the stories entrusted to him.

  • Debra Koffler

    PRODUCER/EDITOR

    Debra Koffler is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose work celebrates the hidden stories behind music, people, and places. Her subjects, from the underground to the iconic, delve into the richness of human experiences set against our diverse and collective histories.

    Her expertise spans story development, archival research, writing, producing, shooting, and editing. Debra produced the critically acclaimed documentary Beats, Rhymes, and Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest, which received multiple festival audience awards, the 2012 Producers Guild Award, and a Grammy nomination.

    In addition to her filmmaking work, Debra brings decades of experience as an arts educator and archivist. She is the founder of Conscious Youth Media Crew and a member of the Mission Mediarts Archive, where she collaborates with community elders to preserve historically significant 16mm film collections from the 1970s and 1980s.

  • Jonathan Nastasi

    DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY

    Jonathan Nastasi is a Director of Photography with more than two decades of experience across documentary, narrative film, television, and branded content. His work balances visual craftsmanship with a deep sensitivity to story.

    His documentary credits include UFO: Investigating the Unknown (National Geographic), Surviving Death (Netflix), My So-Called High School Rank (HBO), Surviving Jeffrey Epstein (Lifetime), and other acclaimed series for Discovery, AMC, and SundanceTV.

    Jonathan’s narrative work has screened at major festivals, including SXSW and New Directors/New Films at Lincoln Center and MoMA. His feature film Barracuda premiered in competition at SXSW and was subsequently acquired by Orion Pictures and Amazon.

    In the commercial and branded space, Jonathan has collaborated with global organizations including Nike, MasterCard, Oracle, Microsoft, Meta, and eBay.