Based out of Los Angeles (but born & raised in Arizona),  Malakai  is a director, artist, activist  and revolutionary.  Within Malakai's films she utilizes fantastical and visual storytelling to curate narratives that are bold, brave and representative of race, gender and identity, especially for those of the african diaspora. Above all things, her goal is to be a disrupter.  Founder of the non-profit Made In Her Image, Malakai is also a activist invested in giving back to her community.

 

 Made In Her Image is a non-profit based towards educating girls  and young women of color within media and technology. Officially launched in 2018 in Phoenix and Los Angeles, Made In Her Image has already collaborated with the likes of giants such as Disney, Paramount, Universal  and most recently the Sundance Institute. By providing opportunities of exposure, the girls emerge from the program curating their own films, scripts & content and more.

​

While Malakai got her start in commercial and branded content (through her own production company she started at the age of 21) , she has also directed documentaries and narrative projects driven towards representative storytelling. Projects include her documentary Black Girls Code that has showcased within the Cannes Film Festival Short Film Corner, SFBB and tech spaces such as Google and Facebook.  Additional achievements include being awarded one of the 2016 Horizon Award Winners through Cassian Elwes, Christine Vachone and Lynette Howell-Taylor at the Sundance Film Festival As well as a recipient of the Adrienne Shelly Foundation grant.   Recently,  Malakai was awarded as a Contemporary Forum Artist through the Phoenix Art Musuem grant. Her most recent short film Souls was directed in 2018 and premiered at the American Black Film Festival in 2019.  Malakai is a graduate of SCC Film School (post -production) and holds a BA in Communications  from Grand Canyon University.