“We need to encourage black women to know that they are authors of their own destiny, that they have important stories to tell, and that they are capable, so magically capable, of writing them and creating important pieces of work that will live forever in history.”

British and Ghanaian actress, writer and television director

Michaela Coel is a British and Ghanaian actress, writer and television director. She is known for creating and starring in the E4 sitcom Chewing Gum, and for the acclaim that followed her work on I May Destroy You. Chewing Gum ran from 2015 to 2017 and brought her the BAFTA Award for Best Female Comedy Performance. I May Destroy You, the 2020 BBC One and HBO comedy-drama series, earned her the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress in 2021. For that series, she became the first Black woman to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special.