A Cleveland, Ohio native, Huriyyah developed a love of storytelling while working in her parents’ donut bakery. Today she is an award-winning writer, director and producer whose projects have been invited to the Sundance Film Festival, Tribeca Film Institute, AFI, Austin Film Festival, Outfest, Newfest, Reel Sisters, American Black Film Festival and many others. She is a current participant in the prestigious AFI Directing Workshop for Women, a recipient of the Sundance Creative Producing Award and the Black List Feature Residency.

The youngest in the family of 8 children, she learned so much about leadership and teamwork watching her parents fight to keep their business alive. Those lessons of hard work, resourcefulness and laughing to keep from crying, guide Huriyyah today – from a career as a Madison Avenue ad exec buying more sneakers than the law should allow, to an emerging writer/director telling fun and heartwarming stories inspired by her childhood. Her work invites audiences to take the journey with her as she tackles tough subjects with humor, heart and often, a little magic. Huriyyah’s sci-fi digital series, KELOID, has become a cult favorite – winning multiple festivals including the prestigious American Black Film Festival. While her magical realism short film Wonders, has won multiple awards and continues to screen in fests. Huriyyah just wrapped post-production on two short films, Chocolate With Sprinkles, starring Reno Wilson and Nani’s Biryani, starring Rizwan Manji. Nani’s Biryani is scheduled to have its world premiere at the Muslim House during the SXSW Film Festival.

As busy as Huriyyah is as an artist, she believes strongly in community and put that belief into action by co-founding The Black TV & Film Collective (BTFC), a 1400+ member, non-profit arts organization dedicated to developing filmmakers of African descent. Through this organization, Huriyyah has not only helped countless filmmakers, but has been immeasurably helped in return. Huriyyah is also a bit of a nerd who holds a BS in Computer Science from Spelman College and an MBA from NYU. Last but not least, she is a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community and does her best work as a loving wife and mother.-