Billy Luther.

When I saw The Color Purple at ten years old, I knew I wanted to be a filmmaker. That experience changed my life. The emotion, the humor and heartbreak, the visual storytelling, the acting. I wanted to feel that again. The dark theater and the screen. It felt like home.

I couldn't afford film school, so I applied to grants and workshops. Opportunities came. I was selected for Film Independent's Project Involve. I moved to LA and didn't know one person.

Twenty years later, I found my family. I volunteered at Sundance offices, filing papers. At Film Independent, mailing out calendars. At film festivals across the country. I met writers, filmmakers, artists, actors, press, agents, producers. I hustled my way into the industry. The people I met, years later, helped produce my films.

I wanted to tell a story about the Miss Navajo Nation pageant. My mother won in 1966. I borrowed a camera from World of Wonder Productions, and my schedule was shaped by the days that camera wasn't being used. Two years later, Miss Navajo premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. My first film.

Documentaries followed. Then I began to write Frybread Face and Me, my first narrative feature. Film Independent's Screenwriters Lab developed it. The Sundance Labs developed it. The same organizations I once volunteered for, the ones that moved me to Los Angeles, now developed my films. The volunteer became the fellow. Full circle. Two years later, the film premiered at SXSW.

The journey was one I'm proud of. The hard work, the resilience, the challenging experiences. They paid off. Whenever someone wants to meet up and "pick my brain," I tell them to figure it out. They're the only ones who have the answer.

Oh, and The Golden Girls
was my inspiration.
Never forget that.