THE SECRETS OF MISS AMERICA

A+E NETWORKS (2023)

DIRECTOR, EPISODES 3 & 4

PRODUCTION COMPANY: LIGHTBOX ENTERTAINMENT

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: SIMON CHINN, SUZANNE LAVERY

DOP: KEV ROBERTSON

EDITORS: JOANNA WALL, DOMINIC COKE

Premium archive and retrospective series exploring never-before-heard stories about the 100-year-old Miss America Organization against the backdrop of US politics and social history.

Episode 3: For All America

Explores the history of racial prejudice in the Organization dating back to “Rule 7” from the mid 1930s, the impact of the Civil Rights movement and the resignation of the first African American Miss America in 1984, addressing incidents of unconscious and conscious bias dating up to the present day. I directed this episode and took it through the edit.

Episode 4: Who Am I? 

Explores the mental health struggles of Miss Americas across the generations. I directed this episode and supported the edit.

VANESSA WILLIAMS ,1983, @GETTY