Chelsea Hernandez is a Mexican-American filmmaker based in Austin, Texas, recently named as one of Texas Monthly’s “10 Filmmakers on the Rise.” She is an 8-time Emmy winning director, producer and editor in the Texas region. Chelsea has directed and produced various short documentaries including the 2012 Austin Film Festival Best Short Documentary Winner, See the Dirt. Building the American Dream is her feature directorial debut.

In the shadow of a lucrative building boom in Texas, a modern slavery has encompassed the construction industry, leading immigrant workers on a downward spiral to poverty, illness, and death. Building the American Dream tells the story of several workers who face hardships as undocumented immigrants and are fighting back to achieve basic protections as construction workers.