Ava DuVernay has one more accolade to add to her lengthy resume.
Yesterday, Advertising Age named the publicist-turned-director one of its 50 most creative individuals of 2015. (Tell us something we don’t know!)
“Creativity is an energy,” DuVernay expertly said. “It’s a precious energy, and it’s something to be protected. A lot of people take for granted that they’re a creative person, but I know from experience, feeling it in myself, it is a magic, it is an energy.”
DuVernay has had a monumental year, starting with the success of her Oscar-nominated Selma. During this year’s Emmys, DuVernay received some serious praise for her Apple commercial, which showed Taraji P. Henson, Mary J. Blige and Kerry Washington kickin’ it and listening to some music. DuVernay told Ad Age that she was ecstatic to have the opportunity to bring that sisterhood to the small screen.
EXCLUSIVE: Ava DuVernay Says Children Should Be Exposed to Women in Roles of ‘Untraditional Power’
“It was a celebration of womanhood, specifically Black womanhood,” she said. “We don’t see as much as we would like, [images of] women being friends and free and unaffected by what men are doing…And for those to be Black women, those images are not something that I ordinarily see. We’re seeing it a little more here and there, but when it happens, it reverberates.”
So what can we expect out of the director in 2016? Plenty more #BlackGirlMagic.
“[I’m looking forward to] my first foray into television, a new film,” she said, referring to her upcoming OWN series, Queen Sugar. “Just more stories. I want to be an old lady with my cane shouting ‘Action!’ and ‘Cut!’”