Ava DuVernay and Autumn Riley

Ava DuVernay, born August 24, 1972, in Long Beach California. When she was a young girl, DuVernay's aunt Denise encouraged her passion for artistic expression and creative thinking. The aunt who was a night shift nurse, allowed her to pursue art literature and the theatre in daylight. DuVernay instantly became enthralled after showing her the 1961 West Side Story film. DuVernay realized that art could be a powerful tool to promote social activism. Her mother was also a an awareness of social issues and showed DuVernay how to convey messages through art. DuVernay lived in Compton during the majority of her life, but was able to spend summers with her father's extended family in Lowndes County Alabama. DuVernay's father was able to recall seeing the civil rights march of the past along the Edmund Pettus Bridge near the town of Selma Alabama. DuVernay was strongly influenced by her time in Selma and decided to make a documentary about the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. DuVernay was a graduate of Saint Joseph High School Lakewood California, in 1990. She went to the University of California Los Angeles to earn degrees in English in addition to African American Studies. DuVernay started producing in broadcast journalism when she was in her university. Her first job was as an intern for CBS News during the O.J. Simpson trial. DuVernay recalls being asked to check the trash inside the house that belonged to a member on the jury. Her disappointment was evident in the journalism assignments she was assigned and chose to change to the public relations industry. DuVernay got her first job as a publicist in small production studios right out of school. She founded The DuVernay Agency, her company for public relations in 1999. Alongside PR, the agency has also launched lifestyle networks as well as promotions, like the Urban Beauty Collective. Autumn Riley.............................Autumn Riley was born in Los Angeles United States. Autumn Riley's zodiac sign is. She is famous for her role as Anna Payne in American Experience, (1987) A More Perfect Union and A More Perfect Union (2009). Autumn played Rose in A More Perfect Union as well as Anna Payne from American Experience.