Ava DuVernay on Essence’s “Black Women in Hollywood” March Cover!

“I want to do what I want to do for as long as I want to do it. I don’t have children. These films are my children. So this is what I will leave. I’m going to give them all the love and nurturing I can and send them out into the world to do what they’re gonna do…”—Ava DuVernay, Essence

Storytelling is personal for trailblazing director Ava DuVernay—whether she’s helming a documentary on mass incarceration, ensuring all Queen Sugar episodes are directed by women or assembling a multicultural cast for the highly anticipated film, A Wrinkle in Time. For her, the vision starts within. In Essence’s upcoming March issue cover story, Queen Ava, writer Kristal Brent Zook goes inside the world of the woman who’s deconstructing Hollywood. Essence’s March “Black Women in Hollywood” issue hits newsstands on Friday, 2/17. *DuVernay is also a previous

Essence Black Women in Hollywood honoree—the prestigious annual Oscar week event. It will take place this year on Thursday, February 23^rd, at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. For more on this

event or the upcoming issue, visit Essence.com.