Aisha Ford is an award-winning filmmaker studying as a 4th year grad film student at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Over the past few years, she has written and directed short films that have broadcasted on platforms such as the American Black Film Festival Independent TV series and at multiple film festivals across the country.  Her recent accomplishments include: the recipient of the Tisch School of the Arts Dean’s Fellowship, the Spike Lee Film Production Grant and the prestigious NYU Wasserman Award for her 2nd year short “Royal.” She is also the recipient of the British Academy of Fil ..read more

Jahmela Yarbrough hails from Winston-Salem, North Carolina!  She is a producer and actress, known for First, First (2014) and In-Between. She currently shares and executive role with her husband, Brandon Yarbrough, as the head of Yarbrough Studios. The studio's mission is: WE ARE A TEAM OF VISIONARY FILMMAKERS FUELED BY FAITH WHO CRAFT WITH PURPOSE IN ORDER TO TELL STORIES THAT ARE EMPOWERING AND LEAVE VIEWERS WITH HOPE. –– Thank you so much for listening to the show! Please remember to FOLLOW, RATE, + REVIEW the show- I would really appreciate it. It helps other screenwriters who are int ..read more

B. Monét is a writer/director who graduated from Spelman College with a B.A. in English. She hails from Silver Spring, Maryland and holds an MFA from New York University in Film and Television with a concentration in writing and directing. In her films, she poses questions about identity, society, race, and culture. It is vital to her that under-represented people are shown in film, media, and television. Her award-winning short film Q.U.E.E.N. has screened at over a dozen festivals including Cannes Short Film Corner and premiered on Magic Johnson's channel ASPiRE. Additionally, B. Monét ..read more

Sade Oyinade and Deshawn Plair are a dynamic African-American female writing/producing team based in Los Angeles.  Sade most recently was a Showrunner on the BET+ crime docu-series American Gangster: Trap Queens where Deshawn served as producer of one of the most popular episodes profiling Delrhonda “Big Fifty” Hood. Prior to that, both Sade and Deshawn worked on the award-winning TV One series Unsung and Unsung Hollywood which is where their partnership began. On Unsung, Sade was Co-Executive Producer and Deshawn was a Producer and Production Supervisor. They received multiple NAACP Imag ..read more

Kara Lee Corthron is a playwright, author, and TV writer based in Los Angeles. Her full-length plays include AliceGraceAnon (New Georges),  Holly Down in Heaven (Forum Theatre, DC area), Listen for the Light (Know Theatre of Cincinnati), Welcome to Fear City (CATF and Kansas City Rep, Kilroys' List 2016), Etched in Skin on a Sunlit Night (InterAct Theatre, Philadelphia), What Are You Worth?, and Time and a Half. Kara is the author of the young-adult novels, The Truth of Right Now from Simon & Schuster/Simon Pulse an ..read more

Shantira Jackson is a Chicago transplant based in Los Angeles. She is currently a writer for “The Amber Ruffin Show” on the Peacock Network and “Big Mouth” on Netflix. She was most recently a writer and consulting producer for the new "Saved By The Bell" reboot and has worked as a consulting producer on CNN’s “She The People” and as a staff writer for the late-night talk show “Busy Tonight” on E!,  NPR’s “Ask Me Another”, and BET's "50 Central". She has also written for the “Writer's Guild Awards”, “The Webby Awards” and “The ESPYS”. You can also catch her as a co-host on the podcast “Bus ..read more

Tanya Barfield’s TV credits include Mrs America (FX), Raising Dion (Netflix), The Americans (FX, WGA Award/S4), Ray Donovan (Showtime) and Here Now (HBO). Barfield’s Mrs. America episode “Shirley” was nominated for Outstanding Writing (Primetime Emmy Award and Black Reel Award), as well as an NAACP Image Award. The series is currently nominated for a WGA Award. Tanya shares a WGA Award win for her work on Season 4 of The Americans. Barfield has projects in development at Netflix, Bad Robot and Sony. As a playwright, Tan ..read more

Natalie Jasmine Harris is a queer-identified, Black writer/director and producer from Maryland. Her creative work often exists within the coming-of-age genre, which she views as an essential tool to re-imagine liberation for young girls, the Black community, and LGBTQ+ individuals.  Natalie received her BFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts in May 2020, where she graduated with Honors and received her department's award for Excellence in Community Service. Natalie is a 2020 recipient of the Directors Guild of America’s Student Film Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement and The B ..read more

Born and raised in Baltimore, MD, Nia has been a writer since the day her mother first put a pencil in her hand. Although writing has always been Nia’s passion, her mother’s emphasis on education led Nia to become an elementary school teacher. She has taught children for more than twenty years and raised her own two children along the way. However, Nia’s passion for storytelling cannot be quenched. After years of writing for national magazines, completing two anthologies of poetry, writing children’s stories, drafting a novel, writing short stories, short films, and completing two feature ..read more

Oh yeah, we're in Season 5 now. Hello summer! Dreux Dougall is a drama and sci-fi screenwriter hailing from Silver Spring, Maryland. As a Guyanese-American, she grew up seeing the world from a different lens, and became an avid bookworm for fantasy, romance, and mystery novels. Her love of books led her into the world of television writing, and soon after moving to LA, her pilot “In Pursuit” was selected as a quarter-finalist in the Fresh Voices Screenwriting Competition, which she developed into a short film that lives on YouTube. She was also 1 out of 10 people chosen to participate in the 2 ..read more