Maya Simone is a highly accomplished and driven filmmaker in her final year at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where she is majoring in Media Studies and minoring in African American and African Diaspora Studies.
At UNC Greensboro, Maya has had a distinguished academic career, completing Global Honors under the Lloyd International Honors College and being recognized for her outstanding achievements.
In addition to her academic pursuits, Maya has also been actively involved in various creative and professional endeavors. She has served as a Student Engagement and Belonging Intern at the Weatherspoon Art Museum, and has been the Studio Manager of Carmichael Studios, a student-run production company, for two years.
Maya's impressive credentials also include being a Lloyd International Honors College Pubantz Artist-in-Residence Program fellow, where she was awarded a grant to write and direct Rosa's Dilemma, a romantic comedy short film. The film will premiere at the Pubantz Artist-in-Residence Showcase in April 2025.
Maya's achievements in the film industry have also been recognized through her acceptance into the Gotham Film and Media Institute's Gotham EDU Film And Media Career Development Program, where she received the Sidney Poitier Initiative Scholarship that covered the full tuition of the program.
In 2023, Maya became an HBCU 20x20 | The Application + Martian Blueberry Writing Fellow, a program led by animation veteran Carl Jones, renowned for his work on The Boondocks and Black Dynamite.
Maya's narrative films aim to create the kind of stories her younger self longed to see growing up, while exploring genres such as romantic comedies and surrealism in the process. In her documentaries, she hopes to amplify the voices of underrepresented communities, with a focus on stories that reflect the Black Diaspora.
Maya's dedication to her craft and her passion for storytelling are evident in her work, and it is clear that she is a talented and ambitious filmmaker with a bright future ahead of her.
