Misa, a native Harlem, New Yorker, is a writer, producer, filmmaker, educator, and cultural anthropologist. Her research interests broadly focus on the relationships between visual culture, race, space, place, memory, and social justice, which she popularly writes about in such publications as The Little Book of Big Visions: How to be an Artist and Revolutionize the World (Edition Assemblage); The Black Diaspora and Germany (Edition Assemblage); and in Contemporary And art magazine. Misa continues these explorations in her screenplays, which often revolve around a protagonist negotiating the impacts of their actions which disrupt the status quo within their relationships and communities. Before receiving her doctorate in Anthropology, she directed two short documentaries: Four Women, which explored representations of Black female sexuality in the media; and, The Love Project, which focused on the U.S. HIV/AIDS epidemic from the perspective of Black American women. She also worked in various capacities in film production and development, including at Alicia Keys’ film production company, Big Pita Lil’ Pita Productions. After graduate school Misa returned to film, focused primarily on screenwriting and directing. Recently, she produced the web video, “Endings: The Good, the Bad, and the Insanely Great,” directed by screenwriter Michael Arndt. She also participated in the Sundance Collab Directing Core Workshop in the spring of 2022. Misa holds her Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and her B.A. in African American and Film Studies from Wesleyan University.