She was drawn to the idea of directing, when at the age of 10 her acting career was dealt a severe blow. Convinced she would get the lead role of Dorothy in the musical production of "The Wiz", she was surprised to hear her audition resulted in her being cast as one of 25 "yellow bricks" in the yellow brick road...determined to be the one who called the shots from that point on she began to focus her talents and attention on directing.

     Lani is a graduate of the Cinema Program at San Francisco State University. After graduation she worked in both commercial and independent film production. Her work included music videos (Beastie Boys, Cake, Third Eye Blind), television commercials and corporate industrials. She has worked for such clients as: Mitsubishi, The California Lottery, CKS Pictures, Satellite Films and Rogue Films.

     In 2002 The Art Institute of California, San Francisco invited Lani to teach Cinematography to the next generation of animators and video game designers, a position she held for almost 2 years. Also in 2002 she produced and directed a short documentary on the schools fashion program entitled “Backstitch; From Idea to Applause” which opened the annual fashion show at the Four Seasons Hotel in San Francisco.

     Currently Lani is lending her time at New York’s Independent Feature Project (IFP) as they prepare for the upcoming 2005 IFP Market. She is also finishing her feature length documentary, “Singleminded”.