Rantings About Hollywood From a Southern Perspective

Excited to bump into a “virtual mentor.” Lena Waithe became the first African American woman to win an Emmy for writing on Netflix’s “Master of None.”

Today is the last day of Women’s History Month. What a glorious idea to spend a whole month celebrating feminism, female empowerment and girl crushes.

I think it’s no coincidence that “Wonder Woman,” directed by a woman, made over $1 billion at the box office worldwide, cementing its place in history as one of the top-selling superhero movies of all time because I feel like women are really coming into their own.

Already, it’s been an incredible year of celebrating African American women in front of and behind the camera, especially with the release of “Black Panther,” empowering actresses Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, and of course, Angela Bassett (a girl crush) to portray such strong, powerful Black women on the big screen. (And their natural hairstyles were giving me so much life!)

For the past two months – i.e. Black History Month and Women’s History Month — I’ve been offering commentary about the accomplishments of African Americans and women on several radio shows where I serve as an entertainment correspondent.

The dynamic women of “Black Panther.”

Still, all year long, I’ve been bursting with joy on the inside because I’ve had these random, yet special moments with some of the very women who I’ve admired from afar. Some may call these chance meetings a coincidence, but I don’t. I like to think of them as breadcrumbs that God is leaving behind to let me know my life is moving in the right direction. Almost, like he’s giving me clues to the next chapter of my story. This is how I “listen to my life,” if you know what I mean.

In the book, “The Hollywood Commandments: the Spiritual Guide to Secular Success,” New York Times bestselling author DeVon Franklin offers life lessons and advice for success by combining “spiritual teachings with secular strategies.” In one of the chapters, he talks about having “virtual mentors” – that is, leaders in your field who you know, but may not know you — who can serve as mentors by studying their career path, projects, social media posts, interviews, etc. (Don’t be a stalker, though.)

This is great advice because it helps you think about your career in a different way, setting new goals and aspirations to make your dreams come true. It’s like living vicariously through someone else until your dream pops off, and then hopefully, you become a virtual mentor to someone else.

I have a list of virtual mentors. One of them is my former colleague Ava DuVernay, who I know from working in PR together. As the publicist of record for the Pan African Film Festival (PAFF), I supported her early movies, “I Will Follow” and “Middle of Nowhere,” and promoted her projects within my professional circles. And look at her now! She went from being an entertainment publicist to making history as the first Black woman to be nominated for a Golden Globe as director of “Selma;” she’s the first African American woman to direct a live-action film with a budget of more than $100 million with “A Wrinkle in Time,” AND she’ll be the first African American woman to direct a superhero film, “New Gods” from DC Comics.  (She’s the second woman to helm a superhero film, behind Patty Jenkins’ “Wonder Woman.”)

I’m excited about the doors she’s opening for other women, too. Along with Oprah Winfrey, she’s the executive producer of OWN’s “Queen Sugar,” and for all three seasons, she’s hired only female directors like Julie Dash (“Daughters of the Dust”), Tanya Hamilton (“Night Catches Us”), Victoria Mahoney (“Yelling to the Sky”) and actress Salli Richardson-Whitfield (“A Low Down Dirty Shame,” “Eureka” and “Pastor Brown”).

“If Game of Thrones can have three seasons of all male directors, why can’t we have three seasons of all women directors?” 🤷🏾‍♀️ https://t.co/e2xTDy8fXw

— Ava DuVernay (@ava) March 21, 2018

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