If only the teenage Abiola Abrams could see
herself now. The multimedia diva once dreamed of becoming an actress but as soon as that dream came true, Abrams realized
that the quality of interesting roles for women of color was sorely lacking. "It was too passive a space for me,"
the New York City born-and-bred, Guyanese-rooted beauty explains of being on the big screen. Instead, Abrams decided to broadcast
her very active ideas as a filmmaker, writer and TV personality. And whether she's chatting away on television as the
host of BET's The Best Shorts, directing award-winning short films like Knives
in My Throat, or conquering the virtual world with her daily online
show Planet Abiola,
her blog The Goddess Factory or debut novel Dare,
Abrams is spreading her gospel of "empowering people culturally, emotionally, sexually and politically," across
every possible media platform. "I use pop culture to remind people to love themselves already, damn it," laughs
Abrams. So how does the unabashed feminist, activist and self-love guru define herself? "I am the daughter of Madonna
and Oprah Winfrey, Cosmo
and Ms.,
Candida Royalle and Eve Ensler. I was born to talk to people." Kate Bernstein
ABIOLA
SAYS
"When I was 16 I knew one thing.
I wanted to make an impact.
My question was how could I inspire YOU to live big, fat, juicy lives using fun? You know—fun! Pop culture stuff: the things that we already
enjoy, movies, music, contemporary books, TV, celebs; the things that some people generally find low brow. Hmph! I
THRIVE on being underestimated. ANYWAY, my personal mission is to use pop culture to inspire us to dream bigger, dare harder,
and always ask, what would I dare to do if I knew I would not fail? "
DOES SHE LOOK FAMILIAR? Of course she does! Maybe
you know her from being a BET J host for the past 2 years, as
the face of blackplanet's talk-variety clips, or you've seen her on BET, HBO,
NBC,or
read about her work in Paper Magazine, Essence Magazine, Cosmopolitan Magazine, RollingOut
Urbanstyle Weekly, Esquire, Time Out NY, Upscale Magazine, Uptown Magazine, Nerve, Today's Black Woman, Carib News, the
Amsterdam News, The Village Voice or The Observer.
Currently she hosts talk variety show Planet Abiola for blackplanet, a TV One
company and the largest African American community in the webiverse.
ABIOLA
ABRAMS is a TV personality, filmmaker and author who gives motivational talks where she shows up with her hot
pink doctor bag of advice and self esteem to whip us into shape. Abiola's debut novel Dare (Simon & Schuster) is the wild adventure of two women learning to live by their own gutsy rules. Currently
she is the executive producer and host of the Planet Abiola Show for TV One's blackplanet, the largest African American community on the web. For the past two years 28 million viewers have tuned in to
watch Abiola on BET: interviewing filmmakers on The Best Shorts, as an outspoken, recurring community
panelist on My Two Cents, and hosting specials such as All
Access.
As
a director Abiola Abrams’ artistic short films and docs investigate themes of gender, race and empowerment. Her directing work includes Knives in My Throat about a spoken word poet dealing with bipolar disorder, Ophelia's Opera about coping with domestic violence, and Afrodite Superstar, acclaimed feminist erotica. The goal of Abiola's work is
to use pop culture entertainment to create uncommon inspiration: culturally, politically, emotionally and sexually. Her advice
column runs in the weekly urban tabloid Rolling Out. Abiola has BA from Sarah Lawrence
and an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is an opinionated tastemaker, cheerleader, hip hop feminist, cultural
critic and all around TV big mouth.
MORE... Former Producing
Host of HBO's interstitial politically incorrect talk show Chat Zone and syndicated
NBC hip hop news show The Source: All Access,
Abiola's writing is featured in current anthology A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant, and a
Prayer by Eve Ensler alongside the writings of Maya Angelou, Edward Albee and Alice Walker. Her writing
is also featured in upcoming anthologies Behind the Bedroom Door by Paula Derrow (Self
Magazine) and Dirty Words: A Literary Encyclopedia by Ellen Sussman.
All
content copyright Abiola Abrams, 2008. Plagiarism is considered intellectual property theft and will be prosecuted to the
fullest extent of the law.