Ava DuVernay and Autumn Riley

Ava DuVernay, born August 24, 1972, born in Long Beach California. DuVernay was motivated to pursue her love of art by DuVernay's aunt Denise as a young child. DuVernay worked as a night nurse so that she could give her aunt the time she required during the day to indulge in writing, theatre and literature. DuVernay enjoyed the film West Side Story, which she taught her. DuVernay saw how art was a powerful tool to promote social activism. DuVernay grew up with parents who were knowledgeable about society and taught her how to use the arts to find a way of expression. Though DuVernay was raised in Compton with her family, she spent every summer living in Lowndes County Alabama where her father's family lived for generations. The father of DuVernay's reminiscences recalled the famous civil rights protest across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in the close-by community of Selma Alabama. DuVernay was able to use the summers she was in Selma to help inspire her upcoming film, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. DuVernay was a graduate from Saint Joseph High School Lakewood California, in 1990. Following graduation, she went to her first year at the University of California Los Angeles which she graduated with degrees in English as well as African American studies. While she was an undergraduate student DuVernay was interested in creating to television journalism. Her first job was as an intern for CBS News during the O.J. Simpson trial. DuVernay recalls being asked to examine the garbage at the home by a member jury. When she was dissatisfied with journalism due to the work she was assigned, she chose to go on to a job in the field of publicity. DuVernay began her career as a junior publicity assistant at a small film studio shortly after she graduated from the college. She founded The DuVernay Agency, her public relations firm in 1999. The agency was the first to launch a variety of promotion and lifestyle networks which include Urban Beauty Collective and Urban Eye. Autumn Riley.............................Autumn Riley was born in Los Angeles United States. Autumn Riley was born under the sign of the. She is a performer, well-known for her roles in American Experience (1987) and A More Perfect Union (2009). Autumn is the character Rose as Rose in A More Perfect Union, and Anna Payne in American Experience.