There have been times in my life where I felt alienated because of my racial and cultural differences. During these times, I turned to stories - reading, writing, and watching. However, visual storytelling, specifically filmmaking, has stuck with me the most. I am most passionate about cinematography as it is one of my favorite ways to express myself. I love crafting visuals that display emotion, each shot is a story in itself. In my free time I enjoy creating storyboards for future films, and experiment with my camera and colored lights. Analyzing movies shot-by-shot always gives me inspiration for new techniques to try on my own. When I watch movies and TV, I find myself not only thinking about the cinematography, but feeling it - how certain lighting represents a character’s solitude, how camera angles reflect power dynamics, or even how camera movement can emphasize the importance of a moment in a character’s life. Connecting with these visual elements makes me feel like my experiences are not isolated; I am not alone. There are so many aspects of the human experience, so many stories to tell, and cinematography has the power to capture all the intricacies of human emotion. Through visual storytelling, I hope to validate others, making them feel seen. While I’m passionate about crafting stories with the camera, I am also passionate about crafting them onto paper through screenwriting. This interest bloomed through playwriting as I saw a lot of children's plays while growing up in NYC. When I was nine years old, I took a playwriting class where I wrote a play that was chosen for their play festival. After seeing my play acted out on the stage, my love for dramatic writing was born. Through watching plays, movies and shows, I learned how each form used dialogue. I especially fell in love with stories of characters going on dangerous quests with mythical beings. I eventually noticed most of these stories had no Black characters. As a young impressionable Black girl, it made me feel like stories about people like me were not important. The few Black female characters that were on my screen fulfilled harmful stereotypes, such as a milder, sassy, kid’s size dose of “the angry Black woman.” Because of this, I want to write stories for the screen that break stereotypes - the Black girl who's top of her class, the Black girl who rules and fights for her kingdom, the Black girl who gets to experience the full realm of human emotion and interaction. Black girls, and and all people of color, deserve to see themselves on the screen and relate to characters. Over the years, I have not only noticed the lack of diverse stories with Black characters, but the lack of Black women in the film industry as a whole, especially in cinematography. There are some goals you almost hope to never achieve. For me, it is to be the first Black woman to win an Oscar in Cinematography. I want to work toward this goal not only for myself but for the community of filmmakers and future filmmakers. Sometimes when you don’t see someone who looks like you doing what you desire to do, it feels hopeless. I imagine myself giving hope to young Black girls and to my fellow Black women filmmakers who aspire to be behind the camera. Through our lens the world will understand us more. The world will know we are not “angry black women” or any other ugly stereotype that belittles us.

Nine-year-old me had a slight obsession. While all of my friends were watching Disney Channel, I found myself down a rabbit hole in the American Girl Doll Youtube series “The Realm of Arragara.” The series was a version of Alice in Wonderland, but with doll witches performing blood rituals. I was absorbed, and filled with a sense of adventure as new episodes released every weekend. Inspired, I began making my mini-movies with my dolls. I built sets, wrote scripts, and filmed and edited them. This is how my journey for visual storytelling began. As a young girl I had no idea that through this love of film, I would not only have to confront my own fears, but also have a place to use my voice to inspire and challenge others. In my storytelling, diversity is important to me. “The Realm of Arragara” inspired my love for stories but I eventually noticed most of these stories had no Black characters. As a young Black girl, it made me feel like stories about people like me were not important. The few Black female characters on my screen fulfilled harmful stereotypes, such as a milder, sassy, kid’s size dose of “the angry Black woman.” Because of this, I want to tell stories of Black female characters that break stereotypes - the Black girl who's top of her class, the Black girl who rules and fights for her kingdom, the Black girl who gets to experience the full realm of human emotion and interaction. I have also noticed the lack of Black women in the film industry as a whole, specifically in cinematography and it is my goal to be the first Black woman to win an Oscar in Cinematography. This scholarship is an important part of helping me realize these goals by helping me with tuition costs to get the education I need to be the best. I have attended predominantly white schools my entire life and have experienced racism and microaggressions. I was initially afraid to speak out about race but I overcame my fears by focusing my film and media projects on telling Black stories. I created a film about what diversity means to me. I starred in my own work, putting a rare brown face as a main focal point. I created a podcast that explored race at my school. These projects challenged and transformed my community. They challenged many of the stereotypes that my peers had about Black people and the place where I'm from, which is the Bronx. I was even recognized for my contributions and received The Princeton Prize in Race Relations Certificate of Accomplishment which was awarded because my work as an artist "promoted understanding among the races" and had a "positive effect on my school and community." This scholarship will help me continue to challenge stereotypes by telling Black stories in college. I want images of Black life to tell my stories. This fall I will be attending New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts to major in Film and Television Production. This scholarship will help me pay my tuition, the biggest expense I have right now. This scholarship will help me achieve my dream of being a visual artist in the medium of film, a goal I've had since the age of nine. My studies will give me the tools to create art on the big screen that challenges stereotypical images and beliefs. It is my overall goal to allow my college studies to further develop my creative voice in such a way that I’m never again afraid to raise it.

I have used my summers for community service. I volunteered my time to two summer outreach programs at my high school. One of the programs serves the community to address homelessness and hunger, while the other program serves low-income families to offer summer enrichment activities for kids. The first program I participated in was called “Hearts Fighting Hunger.” I worked in soup kitchens and food pantries, and learned how the system works for - and against - underprivileged communities. The most pivotal part of the program was the “midnight run.” We stocked up on food, blankets, and clothes and headed to a local park to hand them out to the homeless and anyone in need. When I had a conversation with one of them, it made his day. He was simply happy that someone acknowledged his existence. This experience opened my eyes, showing me how to be more compassionate toward people without a home. I also learned that although people cannot afford food, shelter, and other basic necessities, it is not always their fault. There are often other influences at play, including mental illness and substance abuse issues. This experience molded me into a more understanding person. I realized our society doesn’t do enough to help people and that all of us can do more. The other program where I served was geared to offer summer enrichment to local kids who were low-income, with the majority of the children being Black and Latino. I started out as a basic volunteer during my first summer with this outreach program, assisting with media projects like creating and managing the program’s Youtube. Last summer, I took on more responsibilities by being a Film & Media Volunteer, and also the program Photographer. Most rewarding was teaching the children how to use filmmaking equipment, create storyboards and help them come up with their own ideas for short films. I plan on going to college to become a filmmaker, so being able to share my passion with young children who didn’t otherwise have the same resources available to them meant a lot to me. As an African-American myself, I know how important it is for kids to tell their own stories and to be heard. It was also important to me that they had something I lacked in my education - they had me, a person of color just like them, to set a positive example and show them that anything is possible. In society, with the rate of poverty, kids need people in their lives who give them hope so that later in life they grow up to uplift not only themselves but others too. Maybe one day they will serve their communities because a caring volunteer left an impression on them. My outlook on society has changed alot since I started doing these things. I think society would be better, its problems solved quicker, if everyone gave more of their time to people beyond the ones closest to them. If we all felt a responsibility to others and found a way to help make the world we live in more kind, more aware, more hopeful and understanding of difficult life circumstances that people go through, maybe there wouldn’t be so much suffering in the world. Maybe people wouldn’t hurt each other so much. My outlook on society changed mostly because it made me realize small actions make a difference, even if it’s only for a few hours at a time, or to help one person or child at a time. I plan to continue making this kind of impact in my community.