Safiya Songhai, is an American
Film Director
A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...
, University Professor, Television Anchor/Reporter and
beauty queen.
Biography
Family
Songhai was born in
Philadelphia to Dwight Lamont Hendricks and Tamara Pierce. Songhai's parents met at the Philadelphia International Film Festival and Market, a festival where Songhai would later win her first film award. Her mother came from a prominent Philadelphia family and was the co-creator and host for
WPVI's show ''Visions'', and later worked at various stations as a camera woman and a news editor for ''
Frontline''.
Songhai is the granddaughter of renowned dermatologist
Dr. Harold E. Pierce, great-niece of retired federal judge
Lawrence W. Pierce, niece of internationally acclaimed artist
Barkley L. Hendricks
Barkley L. Hendricks (April 16, 1945 – April 18, 2017) was a contemporary American painter who made pioneering contributions to Black portraiture and conceptualism. While he worked in a variety of media and genres throughout his career (from ph ...
, and cousin of actress model and sportscaster
Jayne Kennedy.
Songhai is an African-American descendant of the 300 year old Pierce, Murry, Cuff, Gould settlement located in
Gouldtown, New Jersey
Gouldtown is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Cumberland County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is in the northwestern part of the county, in the northeast part of Fairfield Township, and it is bordered to t ...
and
Bridgeton, New Jersey
Bridgeton is a city in Cumberland County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is the county seat of Cumberland County[Lenape
The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory includ ...]
and
Iroquois Native American people of the Delaware Valley, and her African ancestry derives from the
Bamileke,
Tikar,
Haitian, and
Bajan people.
Education
After the age of 7, Songhai was raised in
Roxbury, Massachusetts, and graduated from
Boston Latin School
The Boston Latin School is a public exam school in Boston, Massachusetts. It was established on April 23, 1635, making it both the oldest public school in the British America and the oldest existing school in the United States. Its curriculum f ...
. Songhai excelled at Public Declamation, Student Government, and writing, and graduated in the top 10% of her class. She was also the President of the African Cultural Society, and a member of the National Honors Society. Songhai was voted most likely to become Head Master due to her immense involvement in her high school. Songhai also founded two awards, the Latin Spirit Scholarship and the Crystal Apple Teacher's Award while she was President of the Student Council.
Songhai was the 1st runner-up to Miss Black USA 2008, representing Massachusetts. Songhai was also a local winner and runner-up in both the District of Columbia and New York state pageants for the Miss America competition. From 2010 - 2012.
Higher education
Songhai began her studies at
Dartmouth College, concentrating in film, history and creative writing. Later, she transferred to
Howard University where she graduated summa cum laude and became a third-generation legacy of the school. Songhai later completed her
MFA in Film and Television production from
New York University's,
Tisch School of the Arts Kanbar Institute of Film and Television
The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University.
Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the ar ...
.
While an undergraduate, Songhai landed the position of television host at the
PBS affiliate
WHUT-TV in Washington, D.C., and worked at
WJZ-TV in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was d ...
as a producer and announcer for the
Maryland Lottery
The Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency (MLGCA) is an independent agency of the Maryland government. The MLGCA operates the Maryland Lottery and serves as regulator for Maryland's casino and sports wagering programs and a number of ancill ...
. She won a student Emmy in her final year in college.
Film career
In 2003, Songhai began her fledgling film production company Mpirefilms. The first projects were short films, public service announcements and even audition tapes for reality show hopefuls. Her first film, ''LadyLike'', received distribution through AltCinema
Shady Bi
and has been screened internationally.
In 2010, Songhai joined the faculty of Prairie View A&M University as a full-time professor of mass communications. She was nominated by students and faculty for the President's Teacher's Award, and the PV Choice Awards for excellence in teaching.
She is currently an Assistant Professor of Video Production and Immersive Media at University of Nevada, Reno.
Filmography
Awards and nominations
Journalism and television producing
Songhai was an Anchor for ''Arise News Now'' at the international news network, Arise.tv. In 2012, Songhai was a weekend anchor and general assignment reporter for the ABC affiliate KQ2 in St. Joseph, Missouri. In 2008, she covered the Crime and Justice beat for the ''Richard French Live show'' on WRNN-TV in Westchester, NY. Songhai has also contributed to the online news network FDNN-TV covering human interest stories of East Coast firefighters. While in college and graduate school, Songhai worked as a TV host, and producer for WHUT-TV, the PBS affiliate in Washington, DC. She won a Student Emmy as a co-producer for a special called the ''Spring Black Arts Festival''. Songhai also announced and produced the weekend lottery broadcast at WJZ-TV 13 in Baltimore, MD.
Songhai is featured in two books as an expert interview, ''Shut Up and Shoot Documentary Guide a Down and Dirty DV Production'' by Anthony Q. Artis and ''Reel Food from Reel Women'' by Nina Knapp. Songhai has been featured in ''Hype Hair magazine'', ''Jet magazine'' and has written an article for ''The Washington Post''.
Pageantry
Songhai was first runner-up in the Miss Black USA 2008 pageant, representing Massachusetts in the competition. Songhai has had a notable career in the Miss America
Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 17 and 25. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is now judged on competitors' talent performances and interviews. As ...
Pageant system, winning the title of Miss Five Boroughs in 2004 placed in the top ten winning preliminary on-stage questions in the Miss New York Pageant. Prior to this win, Songhai was first runner up to Miss District of Columbia 2003, second runner up to Miss District of Columbia 2001, and was first runner up to Miss Metropolitan Manhattan 2004. Songhai's talent is usually a comedic monologue, and she has won top-interview, and on-stage question at nearly every pageant in which she has competed.
Name meaning
Safiya means "clear and pure-minded woman" in the Swahili
Swahili may refer to:
* Swahili language, a Bantu language official in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes
* Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa
* Swahili culture
Swahili culture is the culture of ...
language. Songhai is from the largest and most accomplished 15th- and 16th-century West African Empire, now Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, whose leaders emphasized education and social, economic and gender equality.
References
External links
*
Mpirefilms official site
Miss Black USA official site
Miss Black Massachusetts USA official site
Miss America official site 2004
Mpirefilms Trademark registered
{{DEFAULTSORT:Songhai, Safiya
Living people
1984 births
Artists from Philadelphia
Howard University alumni
Dartmouth College alumni
Tisch School of the Arts alumni
African-American film directors
American film directors
English-language film directors
American women film directors
American people of Kpelle descent
American people of Yoruba descent
Yoruba beauty pageant contestants
Yoruba women filmmakers
Miss Black USA delegates
African-American beauty pageant winners