Her Story: Yara Shahidi

Yara Shahidi was born and raised in Minneapolis until the latter end of her toddler years, before her family moved to California.

She started her rising career at six weeks old, being featured in commercials and print ads, for campaigns such as: McDonalds, Ralph Lauren, Target, Gap Kids, Disney, Guess Kids, Children’s Place and Disney. She often worked hand-in-hand with her mother and younger brother in various print and broadcast campaigns.

Yara received her big break in 2009 with the movie Imagine That, which starred Eddie Murphy.

Around the same time, Yara starred in the new ABC comedy “In the Motherhood,” portraying the sister to her real life brother, who was also starred TV series as well. Yara was securing role after role and it was just the beginning. Yara’s next film project, Unthinkable, also starred Samuel L. Jackson and gave her the opportunity to work alongside her real life brother Sayeed as the children of Samuel L. Jackson’s character.

Between the years of 2009 and 2011, Yara starred in the following TV series and films:

• Cold Case - TV Series (2009)
• Wizards of Waverly Place - TV Series (2009)
• Lie to Me - TV Series (2010)
• Salt - Film (2010)
• Family Guy - TV Series (2011)
• The Cape - TV Series (2011)
• Butter - Film (2011)

In 2012, Yara connected with Tyler Perry in her next huge feature film, Alex Cross, about a homicide detective who is pushed to the edge of his moral and physical limits as he combats a ferociously skilled hitman who specializes in torture and pain. Yara played the role of Alex Cross's daughter Janelle, alongside her brother, who played his son, Damon Cross.

Hollywood started taking notice of the young actress, recognizing not only how talented she is, but also how eloquent and bright she is. Yara's next role that she took on from 2012 to 2013 was as Chloe Johnson on the comedy/drama series The First Family.

It was not long before she moved into her next featured roles on ABC's hit-show Scandal, The Fosters and lending her voice to Darci's character in the TV series Trollhunters.

Yara is currently playing in her biggest role to-date on ABC's Black-ish, which also stars Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross. Ever since the show began airing in 2014, it has a been a beacon of light for the Black community and enthusiasts of Black culture. Yara was given the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series award at the 46th annual NAACP Image Awards for her awesome onscreen talents, as well as the 2017 BET YoungStars Award for, not only her phenomenal acting, but also for her achievements off-screen and consistent activism.

Her mother and father have raised Yara well. She's a smart young lady who's got a great head on her shoulders and plenty of amazing mentors, from Michelle Obama to Tracee Ellis Ross, to guide her on her way to the top! She has a firm stance on what she wants to do, who she wants to be, and the opinions she plans to uphold. She's not shy about affirming what she believes in and shedding light on topics that need to be discussed. “Just starting the conversation takes down the wall that was built up around these topics,” said Shahidi. She's started raising STEM awareness online, she's spoken out on diversity in Hollywood, feminism, women's rights, Trump and racism and she continues to promote learning more so others can get involved and be knowledgeable, as well.

While many will note first that Yara Shahidi is one of the most beautiful young actresses on the scene right now, there's much more to her than that. She's poised, well-read, bright, sweet, funny, charismatic, and just overall positive and empowering. One of the best things about Yara is her love for being natural and how easy it comes to her to empower others to embrace their naturalness as well. Naturalness doesn't just mean beauty. In this case, it just means the essence of who you are.

Harvard University 2018 here she comes! Yara is set to attend Harvard University, alongside Malia Obama next year. She'll also be taking on a huge new role in the Black-ish spinoff titled College-ish, where her character Zoey Johnson leaves the nest and heads off to college to face the challenges and new adventures in the world of students, administrators and education. In Yara's real life though, she is on the right track, with a letter of recommendation from the Former First Lady Michelle Obama under her belt and a firm grasp on what she wants to major in, Sociology and African American Studies, she seems to have it all together.

And while she journeys to those new chapters of her life and career, we want to take time to thank Yara for her continued boldness and love of culture that has led her passion for activism and her talents in acting that have shown us the many beautiful sides of this budding star. We know she will go forward and take what she's learned so far and show other Black girls who want to follow in her footsteps how it's done.