Filmmaker, producer, and director Ava DuVernay was the first African American woman to be nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Director and the first woman of color to direct a film with a budget over $100 million. And beyond being one of the highest grossing Black women directors in American box office history, she has also become an incredible spokesperson for inclusion in the industry.
With a double major in English and African American studies from the University of California, she was still a student when she began as an intern for CBS News. However, broadcast journalism wasn’t the right fit and she decided to move toward the publicity industry. In 1999, at age 27, she established her own public relations company, the DuVernay Agency, specializing in projects focusing on her lifelong passions: people of colour and women.
From then on, she began a ten-year evolution from publicity powerhouse to trailblazing director. PR might not be the usual training ground for a filmmaker, but those years gave her exposure to filmmakers and provided valuable experiences that informed this next stage in her career.
The shift culminated in Selma, an Academy Award-nominated film chronicling a crucial three-month period in the life of Martin Luther King.
Among her achievements, which are backed by many accolades, she is also known for her activism in criticizing the gender disparity and lack of diversity in the film industry. She once said, “These are systemic, deeply ingrained generational issues that can't be answered in one season of awards, in one article, and one sound bite.”
In 2010, she founded ARRAY, an independent distribution company focusing on films by people of color and women, and recently created a diversity database for hiring film crews. The goal is to close the gap and let more people from minority groups onto the playing field.
“If I can be in a place where my image is encouraging people to see different people behind the camera, and my image and the images I make can help open up a certain world view, I think that's all a part of a larger spirit of change and progress, and I'm happy to be part of it,” she said.