Sista Brunch

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...

Diana Elizabeth Jordan is an award-winning actor, solo artist, theatre- and filmmaker, artist educator, and disability influencer. She has been cast in over 60 film, TV, and theatre productions, including CBS’s SWAT.  Diana is also the founder of two production companies: Dreaming Big On A Swing Entertainment and The Rainbow Butterfly Café. Diana is a member of SAG-AFTRA and Actors Equity Associat...

Anne Marie Fox is a prolific and versatile photographer specializing in portraiture, film & television unit stills. She built her portfolio shooting images for travel and fashion magazines before getting her film break on Kenneth Branagh’s Frankenstein, and since then has been the still photographer on films like Dallas Buyers Club and Wild and TV shows like HBO’s Insecure. She talks to Anya a...

Heidi McGowen has worked as a production manager or unit production manager on shows like INSECURE, BLACK-ISH, SILICON VALLEY, and BODY OF PROOF. She has also worked as an Assistant Director on feature films like BLACK DOG, BIG MOMMA’S HOUSE, SIGNALS, and on the TV side for shows like GIRLFRIENDS and UGLY BETTY. Heidi has earned membership into the Directors Guild of America and is a 20-year film...

Cheryl Bedford is a NAACP Image Award Nominee for “Dark Girls” and Baltimore native who holds a BFA from NYU’s TSOA and MFA in Producing from AFI. As a production manager, line producer, and producer, Cheryl has worked on countless film/tv/digital projects, including 17 Independent Features. She was the first Chair of Diversity Development and a Producing Instructor at New York Film Academy in Los...

Michelle Crenshaw is a cinematographer, camera operator and director of photography with more than 30 years of experience in the industry and over 60 IMDB credits to her name. She has worked on films such as The Watermelon Woman and Home Alone. Most recently she worked as the camera operator for Netflix’s HANNAH GADSBY: DOUGLAS and CBS’s BOB HEARTS ABISHOLA. In this episode, Michelle talks to Fans...

Over the past five years, Kamari Somers has been working her way up in the film industry in Pittsburgh and around the US. She got her start as a staff production assistant on shows shows and films like MINDHUNTER, HAPPIEST SEASON, and THE HARDER THEY FALL and recently moved to Showrunner’s Assistant for Amazon Studios’ A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN. Listen as Kamari talks to Anya and Fanshen about her exp...

Alex Newell is known for their role as Unique Adams on the Fox musical series Glee and Mo on Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist (for which they earned a Critics Choice Award nomination). Newell also starred as Asaka in the 2017 Broadway revival of Once on This Island at the Circle in the Square Theater and received a Grammy nomination for the role. As a singer, Newell has released tracks with Clean Ban...

Sista Brunch takes a look back at some of the show's most memorable interviews of 2021. Actress, model and disability rights activist Tatiana Lee talks to Sista Brunch about how she uses her experience breaking into the entertainment industry to further disability inclusion in film and media. Susan Lewis, senior vice president and head of drama development for ABC Signature, which is a part of Dis...

We’re taking a look back at some of Sista Brunch’s most memorable interviews over the past two seasons. In this episode, we revisit our conversation with Amazon Studios Global Head of Diversity Latasha Gillespie and Head of Good Robot at Bad Robot Miki Woodard. They talked about how their work as DEI and social impact leaders has evolved following 2020’s Black Lives Matter movement. We also spoke...

On our final episode of the season, propmaster Reese St. Amant shares her experience in one of the most unsung professions in the entertainment industry: the art department! From set design and dressing, to painting and props, to working with exotic animals—Reese has done it all, and with aplomb. Listen as she talks to Anya and Fanshen about standing out as a Black woman in props, gaining the trus...

"Trust yourself, even if that means not really know what's next. Because what's next is coming." Today, our hosts Anya and Fanshen speak with triple-threat/award-winning actress, producer, and director Winter Dunn! Currently a Directing Fellow at Film Independent, Winter talks about breaking in and putting yourself out there to get ahead, building a body of work, being prepared for the right oppor...

In our last episode of the series with TIME'S UP Foundation, Amazon Studios Global Head of Diversity Latasha Gillespie and Head of Good Robot at Bad Robot Miki Woodard talk with Fanshen and Anya about the evolution of diversity, equity, and inclusion work, bringing up the next generation of executives and talent, why risk-taking pays off, and the limitless power of listening to yourself.

"When I started helping other people, my career took off like a skyrocket." Documentary Editor Dominique Ulloa worked her way up the chain from from being employee number two in the post production office of Oprah Winfrey Network to a Peabody Award-winning documentary editor for her work on the explosive Lifetime documentary Surviving R. Kelly. Listen as Dominique talks to Fanshen and Anya about w...

"When I design a movie, I think about -- how is this going to stand the test of time?"   Camille Friend, known as the hair guru, has been a hair department head for films like Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Tenet, The Hateful 8, Us, Detroit and The Hunger Games. She's also the co-founder of Hair Scholars, an organization that provides hands-on workshops and seminars for aspiring professional hairs...

In the fourth installment of our series with TIME'S UP, Senior Manager of Research and Partnerships Stephanie Odiase and producer Kady Kamakaté talk with co-hosts Fanshen Cox and Anya Adams about employment challenges, healthcare access, and survival for Black women and WOC during the global pandemic—and what it will take for us to thrive when it ends.

In episode three of our collaboration with TIME'S UP, we ask: how can Black women+ representation in advertising and film/TV effect change? Advertising Chief Officer Christena Pyle and actress/filmmaker Winter Dunn sit down with Fanshen and Anya about the challenges around authentic representation, the responsibility of Black creators and white executives, the emotional labor required in diversity...

"I just kind of go where I can tell stories." - Susan Lewis Susan Lewis started off as an unpaid PA on an indie movie, worked her way up to assisting at an agency, became an exec at MTV Films (where she acquired the rights to the mega-hit TWILIGHT), and is now the Head of Drama Development at ABC Signature. Listen as she shares her impressive journey from PA to head exec, eating ramen noodles whil...