In West Philadelphia, born and raised — well, half true. Maya Cryor was born in Philadelphia, but was surely raised in the suburbs — Amish people, anyone? Being a young black woman in a predominately white space had her questioning her sense of belonging. From hairstyles to music choices (She was going to marry Justin Timberlake) to how she dressed, Maya’s journey to finding her voice has been one heck of a ride.

So obviously, she made the choice to move to the big, bold, fancy city of Los Angeles, where folks know all about trying to find their voice amongst nice/nasty attitudes and Instagram filtered personalities. But through it all, Maya has conquered her way into some pretty awesome roles such as production assisting on OWN Network’s lot to winning an Emmy for the Netflix comedy special “Dave Chappelle: Sticks and Stones.” These projects amongst others have helped Maya to solidify her voice and aid her in producing/directing her own comedic projects that are coming to a screen near you.

And to top it all off, Maya’s taking on the big, bold film/TV industry by writing and producing her own comedic projects that are just as funny as Dave’s — OK, maybe not, but she’s a quick learner.