Sista Brunch

Sista Brunch associate producer Farida Abdul-Wahab speaks to producer Oluwatoyin Giwa and writer Tiffany Campbell about their short film, "Thirty," live from the Essence Film Festival. They discuss the inspiration behind the film, their creative collaboration, and the importance of Black history. Join them for a heartwarming conversation about embracing Black identity and the power of storytelling...

Join us for an inspiring discussion at the Essence Film Festival with writers and filmmakers Brianna Cole and Eunice Levis - hosted by associate producer Farida Abdul-wahab. They share their journeys from journalism and poetry to screenwriting, discussing the importance of diverse storytelling and representation in the industry. Discover how they're breaking boundaries and redefining genres to amp...

In this episode, Sista Brunch associate producer Farida Abdul-Wahab speaks Lamonia Brown, Essence Film Festival Director about her career path.

Black Girls Film Camp is a nonprofit organization that provides a 16-week training program where high school Black girls across the country pitch a story idea, and a final ten are selected to have their short film project produced by the program. Over 200 Black girls across the country applied for the 2023 camp and 10 finalists were selected to direct and develop their own short films. The camp is...

Through her production banner, Undaunted Content, D’Angela Proctor recently produced the films "Line Sisters" and “Keyshia Cole: This is My Story” for Lifetime. Before launching Undaunted Content, Proctor served as the CEO of Justin Baldoni’s Wayfarer Entertainment, a social impact production company focused on branded content. Under Proctor’s leadership, Wayfarer won over 25 awards and honors for...

Lila Mayes currently serves as the Program Administrator for the Directors Guild-Producer Training Plan. This program was created in 1965 to offer access to those who might not otherwise have entrée to the motion picture and television industry. The program provides productions with trained, professional Assistant Directors. Lila is also a founding Board Member of the nonprofit organization, Black...

This season we asked each of our guests what advice they would give to their younger selves and the incredible insight and wisdom we received both inspired and motivated us to continue pushing towards our goals. On our season 4 final episode, we wanted to leave you with a compilation of the incredible advice our guests gave us as well as the advice the women who work on Sista Brunch would give to...

Kamilah Forbes is an award-winning director and producer for theater and television, and currently serves as the Executive Producer at the world-famous Apollo Theater. Her directing credits include By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, The Blood Quilt, and Sunset Baby. She has also worked as associate director on the Tony Award-winning "A Raisin in the Sun”, and Emmy Award-winning “The Wiz Live” for NBC. M...

Nyanza Shaw is Executive Vice President, Scripted Business and Legal Affairs for FremantleMedia North America. She oversees all deal making pertaining to the development, production, and financing of Fremantle’s scripted series and new media content produced for the U.S.  Prior to joining Fremantle, Shaw was the Owner/Managing Partner of Shaw Esquire for more than 20 years. The firm represented ta...

Tiffany Walden is an award-winning journalist known for using her platform to advocate for systematic change shining a light on underrepresented voices in black communities. In 2017 she co-founded The TRiiBE which has now become a dominant news media outlet in Chicago, especially among the Black community. Before becoming editor-in-chief at The TRiiBe, she cut her teeth as a breaking news reporter...

Tanya McRae is an Emmy-Award winning television producer, with more than three decades of experience working in news, talk, lifestyle and reality TV. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in communications and is currently an anchor, journalist and host of the award-winning community affairs program “In Focus SoCal” for Spectrum News in Los Angeles. On today’s episode Fan...

Sian Morson wears many hats. She is an entrepreneur, investor, producer and story-teller. She’s launched a number of companies and is the co-founder of the Starfish Accelerator. She’s a filmmaker whose film, “A Luv Tale,” is currently streaming on Amazon. She’s also an expert on Web3. If you’ve ever wondered what exactly Web3 is or “what’s a NFT” listen to this episode because Fanshen and Sian bre...

Anya Adams is a two-time NAACP Award winning director whose work can be seen on shows like Yellowjackets, Ginny and Georgia and A League of Their Own. Sista Brunch’s own Anya Adams returns to the podcast to talk about her incredible path to becoming an award-winning television director and update us on what she’s been up to since she was last behind the microphone (hint: it includes a new feature...

Marissa Nance is an advertising veteran with more than 30 years of experience developing marketing campaigns for clients like Amazon, Pine-sol and Nike. She has made it her mission to create pathways for BIPOC communities to be heard and have a seat at the table. In 2019, she left Omnicom to launch the first and only minority and female certified media agency, Native Tongue Communications. In this...

Maegan Philmore is a director, producer and activist. Her production company, Hudson Philmore specializes in womanist, queer, BIPOC, all abilities & sizes, unscripted and scripted content. Hudson Philmore aims to make stories that challenge the exclusion in Hollywood. When she’s not directing or producing, she’s at her day job at Paramount formally ViacomCBS, where she is director of productio...

Tracy “Twinkie” Byrd is a highly respected casting director with over 25 years of experience in the TV, film and advertising industry. She’s cast talent in movies like, “The Blind Side”, “Notorious” and “Fruitvale Station.” This week, Fanshen talks to Twinkie about how she got into the casting business, her role in sparking the friendship between Michael B. Jordan and Ryan Coogler and her experien...

Tamar-kali is a Brooklyn born and bred artist and second-generation musician with roots in the coastal Sea Islands of South Carolina. In 2017 she made her debut as a film composer, scoring Dee Rees Oscar-nominated MUDBOUND which garnered her the World Soundtrack Academy’s Discovery of the Year Award. In this episode, Fanshen talks to Tamar-kali about her musical influences, the challenges of being...

DeShuna Spencer is the founder and CEO of kweliTV, a streaming platform dedicated to curating and celebrating black culture on a global scale. Before starting kweliTV in 2015, DeShuna was a journalist and radio host on Washington, DC’s 89.3 FM WPFW. On this episode, Fanshen and DeShuna discuss DeShuna’s path to becoming a storyteller, how she built a streaming platform before most others existed a...

Hallease is a digital storyteller, video producer and filmmaker based in Texas. She’s produced online content for Google, YouTube,Target and PBS through her creative production company, StumbleWell. When she’s not producing, co-writing and co-starring in the online web series, “This Coulda Been an Email” she’s documenting her own life through her Youtube channel, Hallease. In this episode, Fanshen...

Tre'vell Anderson is an award-winning journalist, social curator, podcast host and author. Their insightful contribution to the conversation around culture, LGBTQ issues, inclusivity and diversity led to them being named one of The Root’s 100 most influential African Americans of 2020. In this episode, Fanshen and Tre’vell discuss Tre’vell’s path to journalism, their work advocating for marginaliz...

Taylor K. Shaw, CEO and Founder of Black Women Animate, created the company in 2017 after noticing the lack of opportunities for Black women in animation. The company produces original content, offers production services, and trains and develops talent—all with the primary goal of lifting up women and nonbinary storytellers of color. In this episode Fanshen and Taylor discuss Taylor's path from jo...

Davina Hefflin, TV literary manager at Verve Agency, focuses her career on identifying and empowering a diverse range of voices —including those of the LGBTQ+ community. In this episode, she talks to Anya and Fanshen about working her way up from the mailroom, the importance of mentorship, and what she sees as her mission as an agent.

Darrien Michele Gipson is the Executive Director of SAGindie, an educational organization for independent filmmakers. Since becoming SAGindie’s Executive Director in 2006, Darrien has expanded the organization to reach more festivals and help even more creators on all platforms to bring their projects to fruition. In this episode, she talks to Fanshen about how she created her own career path and...

Rae Benjamin is a staff writer on season 3 of THE WITCHER (Netflix). She is the co-creator of the animated web series, JULISA WHO?, currently in development with Topic Studios and available to watch on Instagram and YouTube. Rae is also the founder of In the Cut, an organization that shares vital industry information and creates inclusive spaces for BIPOC creators. Since 2020, the In the Cut comm...

After seven years as a Senior Vice President at HBO, Kelly Edwards recently transitioned into a two-year first-look television writing deal at HBO where she will develop a slate of projects under her Edwardian Pictures banner. Kelly returns to Sista Brunch to talk with Fanshen and Anya about her recent career shift and her book, The Executive Chair: A Writer’s Guide to TV Development which debuted...