This Is the Future! Power Precision Pretige the Pinnacle of the War Smiths Art!

The film manufacture is notoriously i of those patchy playing fields where Black women struggle to succeed due to the intersecting obstacles of race, class and gender oppression. So when a Black woman like Shayla Cowan works her mode up from being Hollywood superproducer Will Packer'southward executive assistant to his master of staff and now a producer of the 2022 University Awards aslope him, we take to celebrate. Shayla's name may non exist a household one simply nevertheless. Oh, simply it volition exist.

"I'm supposed to exist in this position," Shayla told xoNecole over Zoom one sunny Sat morning. It's one of the few windows of time she has to chat while preparing for Hollywood's biggest dark. "I don't really go caught up too much in the hard work of information technology all. It's more than about getting information technology done," she said. We'll go to witness all of Shayla's and Will's hard work pay off when the 94th Oscars airs alive on ABC this Dominicus, March 27 at 5PM / 8PM ET.

But we've already seen massive changes from the Oscars' 93 years of beingness "so white." Not only volition this exist the showtime fourth dimension in history that the Oscars will exist produced by an all-Blackness producing team, just Will and Shayla have made sure the night will be inclusive and celebrated, from the cherry-red carpet journalists, to the hosts and presenters and even the chefs at the famous postal service-Oscars Governors Ball.

This will be the first time in history that three women will host the Oscars: Regina Hall, Wanda Sykes and Amy Schumer. While Wolfgang Puck has been the chef for the Ball for years, this yr, Bronx-based culinary collective Ghetto Gastro will collaborate with Puck on the bill of fare. HBCUs volition also be represented on phase with Mr. & Miss N.C. A&T Academy Zaria Woodford and Joshua Suiter serving as awards presenters. Following in the footsteps of Quincy Jones in 1971, Pharrell in 2012 and Questlove in 2021, Adam Blackstone will be the Oscars musical director this year. And Beyoncé, BEYONCÉ! is performing her University Honor-nominated vocal from King Richard, "Be Alive." Ok, #OscarsSoBlack!

Shayla Cowan and Will Packer at the 94th Oscars Nominee Luncheon in Hollywood

Courtesy of AMPAS

Will and Shayla's focus for the Oscars is to make information technology near the people. "With what we've gone through in the last ii years, it was so important for us [to do a testify for the people], which we've always done with our projects because nosotros've always had a specific demographic. Just for this, it was similar, one affair is for sure, across the globe, everyone loves movies. Then why not bring anybody together for this special nighttime, jubilant some of the best movies of the year with people who really have an opinion and who enjoy them?"

This is one of those stop and odor the roses moments for Shayla, who has been working with Will for over a decade. "To bring me in [as an Oscars producer], first of all, information technology just goes to show who [Will] is as a person…just always [with] the pinnacle and wanting to empower me in whatever way he tin can. I'm just forever grateful for that," she said.

Shayla said she went from being a crew member on Will Packer Productions' Stomp the Yard 2: Homecoming in 2008 to existence Will's executive assistant, to being his chief of staff in 2022 and now co-producer on the Oscars considering of how she showed up to work. "I think the best way to draw me is consistent," she said.

Consistency is rex, especially when it's mixed with ane of Shayla'due south other powerful characteristics: "I'chiliad fearless." It's that fearlessness that led her to walk up to Will on the set of Stomp the Yard 2 and strike upwards the conversation that would alter the course of her life. When the billion-dollar box office producer subsequently asked Shayla to be his executive banana, she felt empowered plenty to tell him yeah, with i condition: "When you go make movies, I want to go with you." Shayla went on to be an associate producer on box office-topping movies, Think Like A Human being, Little, Girls Trip, so many more. "We [Will Packer and I] literally built this," she said.

The ability to build up to this magnitude in Hollywood hits dissimilar for a Blackness adult female. Shayla shared, "I don't take it for granted. Every and so ofttimes I wake up like, 'this all could be gone tomorrow.' And then everyday I put my best foot forward to know that I am here for a reason."

One of those reasons close to her heart is to help those coming behind her understand the business. She shared, "My chore on this planet is to empower, support and connect because I am in a position to do and so. Like with the Oscars, being able to bring in some of these folks, the Adam Blackstones of the world, who take done a musical moment in the bear witness, only to be a musical director of the entire evidence? That'southward a moment!"

Shayla's meteoric rise in the industry could be seen from the exterior looking in as if she's simply been lucky, just that own't all it'due south taken for her to get here. She said, "None of this was handed to me. Every inch of this journey literally was earned. As a Black woman in this town, it has not been piece of cake, with all the mistakes, all the headaches, all the frustration – merely also those special moments. Those history-making moments will be there forever, including this i with Will and I being the first Black producing squad to produce the awards in Academy history." Those are the moments that brand her climb worth it.

When it comes to equity in the industry, "at that place's still more piece of work to be done," she said. Ever the optimist, she added, "There are more than Black women in these chief of staff positions and high-level executive roles – I think nosotros're being seen differently."

Shayla shared a story nearly a woman recently asking her about being Will's assistant despite the fact that Shayla has been his chief of staff for the past four years. "I was like, 'Ma'am, what else exercise I demand to do and so that I tin be seen as an executive?' Non to take away from [that], considering if I wasn't his assistant [first], I probably would non exist in this position today, with the growth and all of the wisdom that comes with it. But sometimes I'm similar, 'What practice I need to do to make sure that people know that growth has happened?'"

Whether folks see it or non, Shayla Cowan will proceed ascension. She'southward a curiosity whose Midas touch is opening Hollywood's doors that take been locked to Black people for likewise long. When asked to give advice for those who run across her career and desire to be only like her, Shayla said, "I don't want them to be but like me. I desire them to be meliorate than me." What she has is drive, determination and confidence, but she'southward also got these other secret weapons that are her saving grace: humility and patience.

"Yous have to be okay with waiting for your turn. And I remember oft people are so quick, they only desire to run to the tiptop. You can't merely run upwardly that mount. You've got to take your time. Slow and steady wins the race." Expert matter she's a runner, she'south a runway star–except when it gets hard, she faces the work and gets it done. And as Shayla continues to succeed in her career, she's also building a beautiful life that she's proud of. "I literally am living and dreaming in colour, and I'm and so happy, within and out," she shared. Who wouldn't aspire to that?

Editor's notation, xoNecole is a subsidiary of Volition Packer Productions.

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