I STARTED MY OWN PRODUCTION COMPANY!
As a kid, did you ever pretendtend you had your own TV show or YouTube channel? Maybe you and your friends put on performances of your ideas in front of your parents. Fourteen-year-old Chicago, Illinois native, Avery Kelley, can relate. At just 9 years old, she discovered her passion for writing and has since turned that into an entire production company called Inspired Melanin!
“I DIRECTED MY FIRST
FILM AT 11!”
When Avery was 10 years old, she started writing a show inspired by her real life as a fourth grader, called Back Row. She eventually turned that series into a short fifilm.“I wrote, directed, produced and acted in the fifilm at 11 years old,” she says. “After entering a fifilm festival and receiving numerous accolades, I knew that I wanted to continue creating entertainment that would showcase underrepresented communities in a positive way on the screen.” And that’s when she decided to start her Inspired Melanin production company.
If you’re not familiar with what a production company does, allow Avery to explain. “Before establishing Inspired Melanin, a mentor shared with me that the literal defifinition of a production company is actually in the name … a company that produces a variety of difffferent projects!” she says. For Avery, that means getting to create whatever she wants — scripted series, feature fifilms, documentaries, talk shows, podcasts, social events and philanthropic efffforts — without someone else telling her how to do it. “It’s like a creative world of little-to-no-limitations, allowing me to curate many difffferent projects with very similar missions,” she shares.
So far, those projects have included two documentaries called Soul Train, Soul Change, about the cultural impact of the television series, Soul Train, and One Step at a Time, about a dance studio in Chicago. Avery also hosts a YouTube series called Teendom Talk Show that streams weekly with difffferent guests and topics.
“IT’S A LOT TO
BALANCE!”
If this sounds like a lot of work for someone about to start ninth grade this fall, well, it is! “Every day, I go through all of our emails. After going through my school day, I may also have multiple meetings. I manage the Inspired Melanin website and social media, along with completing all tasks that need to be completed for each project we are currently working on,” she lists. “It’s a lot to balance, but this is my passion, so I have so much fun while doing it!”
Avery has a positive outlook and a go-getter mentality, but there is one thing that can make her job diffifficult. “The most challenging part of what
I do is being taken seriously,” she says. “Many believe that I may not have the maturity, tenacity, dedication or work ethic necessary to be taken seriously. I know I can bring a lot to the table, and the hardest part is that I want other people to see that, too.”
When you’re a teen CEO, there’s a lot of learning on the job! The most valuable lesson that Avery has learned is that while she’s always aiming for perfection, she has to give herself the grace to fail and get back up again. “I’ve learned to not let the pressure get to me,” she shares. “The pressures of meeting deadlines, copyright issues, tech problems or money (which can be a huge one) have all come up, but I use that stress as fuel for creativity, which has helped me solve problems effifficiently.”
“I’M SUPER-PROUD OF MYSELF!”
Speaking of creativity, of all the difffferent hats she wears, there is nothing Avery loves more than the times when inspiration strikes for a new concept. “My favorite part is what I like to call my ‘light bulb moment,’” she tells us. “It’s that moment when I get so excited, I feel like jumping out of my seat because I was able to think of something that I know others will enjoy. It’s like the highest peak for me as a creator — envisioning that fifinal product in your head when the idea for the product just began.”
Next up for Avery is a feature fifilm, and it’s her proudest achievement to date. “It’s a coming-of-age love story that addresses diversity, equity and inclusion, in a manner that we haven’t seen on the screen yet,” she explains. “The process was challenging, but my mentors really helped me and pushed me to get it done much sooner than I ever expected. I’m super-proud of this project … in fact, I must give myself a little pat on the back!”