She's Lit: The Story of the Storyteller

Can I be real with you for a second? I had no clue who this woman, Ava DuVernay, was until I heard my sister go on and on about her "SHEro". So I did what any nosy teenager would and asked her who she was, to which she simply replied "look her up".

Well I did, and what I found was a natural, beautiful, powerful woman who is doesn't care what people think or say as long as she is doing what she believes in. What I found was the first African American woman to receive a golden globe award nomination for best picture (which she definitely deserved by the way). I found a woman, who's the same color as me, producing and directing movies, TV shows, and documentaries that give me a picture of our history, remind me of our realities, and tells our stories.

So now, after all I've learned and read about her, allow me to tell HER story. The story of Ava DuVernay.

"HER"story

Ava DuVernay was born to Darlene and Murray Maye on August 24th, 1972 in Long beach, California. She is the first of five (5) children.

Her mother was an educator, and her father was a businessman from Hayneville, AL. She spent most of her summers in Hayneville, that's what actually influenced her to create the movie "Selma".

DuVernay attended St. Joseph's High School where she graduated in 1990. She studied English and African American Studies at the University of California where she graduated with a B.A degree in 1995. Four years later, she started a media and marketing agency called "The DuVernay Agency" (DVA).

HER Work

<> Her first film as a Director was actually a documentary called "This Is Life". She wanted to do documentaries because its a smaller amount of money than most feature film

<> One of her most notable films is "Selma" which tells the story of Martin Luther King and his followers during the height of the Civil Rights movement and their historic march from Selma to Montgomery.

<> Here's something really cool. DuVernay's first narrative feature film, "I Will Follow", a drama and film starring Salli Whitefield. What blew my mind was the fact that she, along with the help of her aunt, took only 45 days to film it, she used her own money to fund it, and she kept her cost below $50,000 by staying in the location. Talk about budgeting?

<> Queen Sugar (now one of my favorite TV show) tells the story about a family who lost their father and inherited the sugarcane farm that he owned. I like this show because it talks about a lot of the issues that we face in the world today. The best part is that the producers that Ava hired to create the episodes ARE ALL WOMEN OF COLOR!

<> The 13th Film is a documentary on Netflix that shows the history of racial inequality in America and the idea of people of color as new slaves because of the unfair prison justice system. The images of people of color being attacked or shown as monsters was hard to watch but it was an eye opener for me. I can see how things have changed and how much they have not.

<> This last film I'm mentioning is probably going to be the highlight of my 2018! Now I could talk about it, but instead i'm just going to show you this trailer so you can experience "ALL THE FEELS"

#goosebumps

She's our SHEro!

So after all that research, I can now understand why my sister loves Ava DuVernay. She loves how Ava helps and contributes to the black community, she gives full credit to the people who are involved in all her projects and films. Lastly, her movies are based on stories that impact, empower and represent people of color.

My reason for making her my SHEro is because, she shows love to, not only black women, but to all women of color . She inspires many young teenagers, like me, to be ourselves and to ignore what other people think. She's not ashamed of being true to herself, which is something I admire and hope to emulate (my sister told me that

word) hahaha.