Luvvie Ajayi
Luvvie, also known as “Awesomely Luvvie” has to be the best kept secret to ever live. If you haven’t heard of her, it is time to find out who she is. She is BEYOND hilarious!!

Luvvie is a cultural critic, writer, digital strategist, speaker, and activist. Luvvie first started out as a blogger behind AwesomelyLuvvie.com. It’s been a solid 14 years and her blog is still up and running (GOALS!!!) She is the creator and Editor-in-Chief of Awesomely Techie, a resource site for writers, bloggers, business owners, and everyday tech savvy individuals who want to make their lives better.

Luvvie is also a proud partner of The Red Pump Project, a nonprofit organization that raises awareness about the impact of HIV/AIDS on women and girls. She has written for ESSENCE, Black Enterprise, The Root, BET, Africa.com, Chicago Sun-Times, and more. She has interviewed anybody who is anybody from Oprah Winfrey to Gloria Steinem, and has spoken on several stages including: The White House, TedXColumbiaCollege, National Association of Black Journalists Conference, amongst more.

I can go on and on about Ms. Luvvie as you can see! But her name has been ringing with praise lately for her debut book , “I’m Judging You: The Do Better Manual”, which features a series of hilarious essays about our social media and cultural bad behavior. It is full of brutally honest truth and joyous laughs. It is a hand book full of quotes to use about the current state of the world we live in.

Due to the feedback and success of her book, Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers (television and film producer) have agreed to adapt Luvvie’s “Do Better Manual” as a cable comedy series through Shondaland and ABC Signature.

Check out Luvvie’s book and look out for her upcoming show.

Shonda Rhimes

Shonda is Queen of TGIT owning her the well deserved title of SHONDALAND. If there is anyone that can take up three hours of our time on a single night while causing us to juggle emotions of anticipation, anger, and sadness, IT IS SHONDA.

On several different occasions Shonda has left me in my room watching episode after episode of Grey’s Anatomy, all while crying tears of sadness.

Shonda is a television produced, screenwriter, and author. She is best known as the executive producer, head writer, and creator of Grey’s Anatomy (Medical Drama -Fourteen seasons and counting), Private Practice (Grey’s Spinoff), and Scandal (Political thriller/drama – Six seasons and counting), all of which share the home of ABC. She also serves as executive producer of the ABC television series Off the Map, How to Get Away with Murder, and The Catch.

Shonda has won several awards, most recently being the “Laurel Award for TV Writing Achievement” in 2015.
In 2015, she also published a memoir, “Year of Yes: How to Dance it Out, Stand in the Sun, and Be Your Own Person”. In this book Shonda unravels the truth about how saying YES changed her life and how she has managed to maintain her success all while being a full time mother.

Read her book and watch her empowering and motivational TedTalk “My year of saying yes to everything”.

Tracee Ellis Ross Beautiful, Elegant, Hair Goals, Hilarious, and Body Goals wrapped into one!!

I started liking Tracee when she began making parody videos freestyling popular rap songs as her alter ego, T-Murda. Silly, I know!!! Since, the release of her first video she instantly became one of my favorite people!

Tracee is an actress, model, tv show host, and comedian. Tracee has appeared as an actress in several films and shows but two of her most popular television appearances include: Girlfriends and Black-ish, in which both series she has played strong, independent, intellectual women.

She has won several awards from “Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series” from 2015-2017 to NAACP Image Awards.

In 2016, Ross was nominated for an Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, in which she was one of the first African American women to be nominated in the category in the last 30 years. She has also hosted several award shows from the BET Awards, Black Girls Rock, and Glamour Women of the Year Awards.

Tracee is a talented actress but most importantly, she is comfortable in her own skin!

Alicia Garza

Alicia is one of the founders and creators of the “Black Lives Matter” movement. She is a activist and editorial writer. She has focused on discussing and working to combat several issues like health, students rights, police brutality, violence against trans and gender non conforming people of color, and more.

Alicia has been a woman focused on seeing justice in our communities and obtaining rights for all people.

Her writing has been published by the Huffington Post, Rolling Stone, The Feminist Wire, and The Guardian. She currently directs Special Projects at the National Domestic Workers Alliance. Since her involvement and activism with the Black Lives Matter movement, Alicia received several notices of recognition like being acknowledged on the Root 100 list of African American achiever between the ages of 25 and 45. Alicia also received the Local Hero award from the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

November of 2017, Alicia Garza, along with the other two BLM founders: Patrice Cullors and Opal Tometi will be awarded the Sydney Peace Prize.

Ava DuVernay
Ava DuVernay is Woke Bae! She is a director, screenwriter, film marketer, and film distributor dedicated to educating the people and spreading truth.

One of her most popular, riveting, enlightening, and heart-wrenching films has been her film 13th, a film centered on the criminal justice system and race in the U.S. 13th is a documentary that released on Netflix in 2016. In 2017, she was nominated for the Academy Award for “Best Documentary Feature”.

Watching 13th was my first introduction to Ava DuVernay and I’ve been enlightened and impressed with her work ever since.

Ava is also creator and executive producer of the drama series that we all love, Queen Sugar, airs on OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network).

From producing and director several films, Ava has made a mark in history and has become a hot topic in the woke circle. For her work she has been recognized and become a recipient of several awards.

At the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, Ava won the “Best Director” prize for her second feature film Middle of Nowhere. She was the first Black woman to win the award! In 2014, for her work in Selma, she was the first Black woman director to be nominated for a Golden Globe Award. She was also the first Black woman director to have her film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

If you haven’t seen 13th check it out on Netflix, catch up on Queen Sugar, and look out for new Ava DuVernay projects.