DuVernay credits her Aunt Denise for introducing her to film when she was a little girl. DuVernay saw the 1961 film adaptation, “West Side Story,” with her aunt, and was awestruck. She also recognized, even at a young age, that the arts could be a highly effective way to spread a message and foster activism. 

DuVernay is thriving in an industry that's still infamously exclusive and dominated by white male directors. She insisted on hiring female directors for her popular television series, “Queen Sugar.” She has also founded ARRAY, a multi-platform social impact and arts endeavor that distributes films and television shows by women and people of color.

DuVernay's 2016 documentary “13th” exposes the corruption and hypocrisy of mass incarceration of African American men. The film is a provocative, raw look into brazen ongoing inequality. As DuVernay puts it, “Justice and storytelling really go hand-in-hand.”

The year 2018 saw the release of “A Wrinkle in Time,” a DuVernay-directed remake of the young adult sci-fi classic book. In this version, the main character is a biracial middle school girl living in the inner city who learns to love herself while on the journey of searching for her father and saving the universe. DuVernay's “A Wrinkle in Time” is a good example of her choosing her own narrative instead of accepting someone else’s story.

In 2020, DuVernay launched the LEAP (Law Enforcement Accountability Project), an initiative that seeks to overhaul the status quo of the justice system by asking questions, delving further into the evidence, and refusing to stay silent.

DuVernay is busy living her best life. She made the decision not to get married or have children of her own. In her words, she wanted to do what felt good to her, and as her career started to flourish in her 30s, these feelings were reinforced. One day, she says, “I just realized that I need to work without permission. As long as you’re asking people to help you, you’re not empowered to help yourself. I had a lot of what I needed; I just didn’t realize it.”

on The Carlos Watson Show!

DuVernay is at the forefront of an ever-growing movement of talented people of color in the film industry who are reshaping Hollywood, both from behind and in front of the camera. She isn't just talking about diversity and inclusion, she's actively creating instruments of meaningful change in the industry.

DuVernay co-wrote and directed “When They See Us,” a 2019 Netflix crime drama miniseries based on the true story of five minority teens wrongly convicted of the rape and assault of a female jogger in Central Park in 1989. Four members of the group were sentenced as juveniles and spent 6-7 years in juvenile facilities. The oldest of the five teens was sentenced as an adult and served time in adult prison until August 2002. They all maintained their innocence and received official exoneration in 2002.

DuVernay insists that we need to completely change the way we look at prosecution. This need is due to endemic racial prejudice in our court system — a longstanding issue she continues to illuminate through both art and activism. DuVernay has never stopped believing in herself, and she remains optimistic that a meaningful shift in society is on the horizon.

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