Born in Fall River, Massachusetts, where her first love of writing and telling stories began, Gina Barboza is a screenwriter, producer, director, and documentarian. She is the C.E.O. of Balancing ACTS Entertainment (BAE), an entertainment company she formed to produce, director, write and develop content for television and film. A mental health advocate, she is dedicated to telling transformative stories that foster empathy, challenge stigma, and create meaningful social impact.

 

Her latest project, The Call, a mental health documentary in which she wrote, produced and directed is currently in post-production. The journey to tell this story came after finding her biological father in 2004 and learning he had been suffering with mental illness from the time she was four years old. While capturing memories she never had with her father, the story began to unfold in front of her lens. As she soon became aware of the stigma that surrounds mental illness, she began documenting his personal journey. It then became her mission to search for answers on how to get at the front end of those dealing with these same disorders and illnesses.

 

Realizing more needed to be done to also help the youth dealing with mental health disorders and wellness, she founded A Young Child Evolving Organization, Inc. aka Young C.E.O. a 501c3 nonprofit organization. The mission to help heal the mental, physical and emotional state of underserved children by partnering with a team of trained professionals and arts’ professionals on the same mission. The goal: to work together to create a safer place for the youth to heal, grow and achieve their dreams.

 

As an indepe​ndent filmmaker and producer, she produced projects for BET, CBS, Discovery, Hallmark, Houzz TV, Netflix, PBS, Swirl Films, Tyler Perry at Tyler Perry Studios and many others. Before BAE, she spent 17 years working as a television network executive at Turner Entertainment Networks (TEN) as the Director of Music Licensing and Development located in Atlanta, Georgia.

 

During her tenure at TEN, she produced promo shoots with the lead cast members from TBS & TNT shows as well as supervised and licensed music choices for on-air promotions and marketing. It was there she also learned the importance of branding and public relations.

 

In addition to getting more awareness of early detection, prevention and intervention of mental health disorders and mental illnesses, she is also fighting for more research on cancer after losing both her father and mother to the disease.

 

Currently, she is an MFA Digital Filmmaking Graduate Candidate at Georgia State University, Class of 2027. In 2025, Barboza received an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters for her mental health advocacy. She is an Alum of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and a certified Yoga instructor in which she utilizes her practice to aid in the mental health aspects of breathing through anxiety and trauma.

 

Her most important role is being the proud mother to daughters Sasha and Mariah Worthem.

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You can follow her on INSTAGRAM @ginabarboza + @balancingactsent