Kyra Jones: Multi-Hyphenate Black Feminist Powerhouse With A Mission
Kyra Jones grew up in Annapolis, Maryland, a small city know for its crabs, boats, and being where Kunta Kinte was sold into slavery. You can extrapolate as to how an upbringing in such a location contributed to her hatred of white supremacy and her love of seafood. Kyra is a 2nd-generation West Indian American and spent most of her life talking shit over curry chicken with her Trinidadian family members.
After high school, Kyra left the east coast for the Windy City to study acting at Northwestern University, where she was one of only 4 Black theatre majors out of her class of 100. (Seriously. There were more Black people in her house than there were in her graduating class). While attending the predominantly white institution, she became frustrated by the amount of old, dead, white, male playwrights she had to study and perform. Then a professor in the Gender Studies department told her the definition of “intersectional feminism” and gave her some Angela Davis, and it was all downhill from there. Kyra became heavily involved in student advocacy, activism, and peer education around racial and gender justice, much to the theatre department’s chagrin. She graduated from NU with a bachelor’s degree in Theatre and Gender Studies.
Kyra is currently a staff writer on season 2 of Woke (Hulu) and Queens (ABC). Kyra is the co-creator and star of the award-winning web series The Right Swipe (OTV). The Right Swipe was an official selection at Austin Film Festival, Urbanworld Film Festival, DC Black Film Festival, Black Femme Supremacy Film Festival, and many others. Her comedy script, Good Vibes Only, won Best Pilot at the 2020 Nashville Film Festival and was runner-up for Cinestory. Her upcoming feature, Go to the Body, won ‘The Pitch’ at the 2020 Chicago International Film Festival and Screencraft’s virtual pitch competition. As an actor, she’s appeared on the series finale of Empire (Fox), Chicago Justice (NBC), The Chi (Showtime), Kappa Force (Revry), and Seeds (OTV).
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