Hollywood Melanin Magic Makers Cover HelloBeautiful & MadameNoire

As Women’s History Month continues, five Hollywood power players are being celebrated for being marvelous melanin magic makers.

Source: Sage East / for HelloBeautiful x MadameNoire

Our sister sites HelloBeautiful and MadameNoire have released their special “Women To Know” issue featuring Tara Duncan, President of Onyx Collective; Nicole Brown, President of TriStar Pictures; Amber Rasberry, Senior Film Executive of Development, Production & Acquisitions at Amazon MGM Studios and Niija Kuykendall, Vice President of Film at Netflix and Alana Mayo, Head of Orion Pictures.

Described as an “incredible group of creatives who transitioned into executive positions to support impactful art”, the ladies were hand-selected for their stellar work championing black stories and storytellers.

Source: Sage East / for HelloBeautiful x MadameNoire

Inside their cover story, the ladies reflected on what it’s truly like being a Black executive in Hollywood and dished on the importance of leaving a legacy.

“For me, [legacy] is leaving behind the lessons and impact of my knowledge, words, presence, and the things I have done with my nieces, the people I hire, and the folks I mentor along the way so that they may do the same,” said Rasberry on the subject.

“Every movie that gets made is this little miracle because there’s this alchemy of events that have to occur for anything to become possible,” added Mayo. “When it’s good and it performs well commercially, it’s incredible that all these things came together to have this result. It’s something you have to be deeply invested in over a long period of time because the stuff that most people see and are aware of is the very tail end of years and years of work.”

 

Speaking of “little miracles” under their leadership, the ladies have gifted audiences with incredible projects like American Fiction (Mayo), The Woman King (Brown), The 1619 Project (Duncan), Judas and the Black Messiah (Kuykendall), and The United States vs. Billie Holiday (Rasberry).

Now they’re gifting MadameNoire and HelloBeautiful readers with insight into the competitive world they work in and something much greater; sisterhood.

“It’s interesting,” said Kuykendall. “We’re all at different companies so we’re technically rivals—and we often are competitive with each other—but first and foremost we’re friends and sisters. The jobs will come and go. We will be at many companies. But these ladies, we’ve been together for a long time.”

“We all are rooting for each other and want each other to do well,” added Brown.

We’re rooting for all of them too.

See more of MadameNoire and HelloBeautiful’s Women To Know HERE. 

Photographer: @sage.east

SVP of content: @alliemcgev

VP of content: @kwestsavalli

Editorial Director: @shamika_sanders

Senior Editor: @negra_with_tumbao

Digi Tech: @troncosgibbsstudio

Lighting Director: @bnickleberry

Photo Assistant: @yocornell

Creative Director: @jbthegawd

BTS Video: @thirdandsunset @akinyelefx

Roundtable Video: @desprodinc

Retoucher: @sage.east

Wardrobe Stylist: @icontips

Wardrobe Assistant: @svint.jvmes @jadewhipkey

Makeup: @tilomai.hill @flawlessface_mua

Hair: @ursdidit @cosmowithcandi

Set Design: @synthesisproductiondesign @sisi_hood

Production Company: @theoraclemedia

Production Team: @mishamulla @forevermylangley @haleypooley @iyanamooore @anthenyraiyco @thedannimills

Location: @milkstudios