Safiya Songhai

Safiya Songhai
Born	July 25, 1984 (1984-07-25) (age 25) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Occupation	Film Director, Television Host, Television Producer, Beauty Queen
Years active	1999 - present
www.Mpirefilms.com Official website

Safiya Songhai, (born in July 25th, 1984 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a Student Emmy award-winning American Film director, on-air talent and beauty queen. Songhai is the reigning Miss Black Massachusetts USA ^[1], and a former Miss Five Boroughs ^[2] for the Miss New York Pageant.

Biography

Family

Songhai was born in Philadelphia to Dwight Lamont Hendricks and Tamara Lee Pierce ^[3] . Songhai's parents met at the Philadelphia International Film Festival and Market, a Festival which 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 ^[4], and later worked at various stations as a camera woman and a news editor for Frontline ^[5] . Her father was a carpenter and teacher who lived a very bohemian lifestyle, only making enough money to pay off his bills and then spending the rest of his time involved in grass roots efforts to improve the crime ridden areas of Philadelphia through cultural and political efforts. The couple split when Songhai was a year and a half old and was the only child of both. In 1999, Songhai's father was murdered in a robbery attempt against him in North Philadelphia.

Songhai's mother remarried Loman C. McClinton ^[6], now an Attorney, Retired Police Sergeant, Marine Sergeant, Actor, Stand-up Comedian, and a member of Mensa.

Songhai is also 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, and cousin of actress model and sportscaster Jayne Kennedy.

Education

After the age of 7, she was raised in Roxbury ,Massachusetts, and graduated from Boston Latin School ^[7]. Songhai excelled at Public Declamation, Student Government, 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 ^[8] while she was President of the Student Council.

Higher Education

Songhai began her studies at Dartmouth College, concentrating in Film, History and Creative Writing. Later, she transferred to Howard University ^[9] where she graduated summa cum laude and became a third generation legacy of the school. Shortly after graduation, Songhai was accepted into the MFA film program the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University .

While in undergrad Songhai landed the position as a television host at the PBS affiliate WHUT-TV in Washington, D.C. and worked at WJZ-TV in Baltimore as a producer and announcer for the Maryland Lottery. She won a student Emmy ^[10] in her final year in college.

Film career

Safiya Songhai
Safiya Songhai, 2006

In 2003, Songhai began her fledgling film production company Mpirefilms ^[11]. The first projects were short films, Public Service Announcements^[12] and even audition tapes for reality show hopefuls. Her first film LadyLike received distribution through AltCinema ^[13] and has been screened internationally. Now the company has won several awards for its work and is in production for several feature films scheduled for release in 2010.

Filmography

Year	Film	Credited as
		Dir.	Wri.	Prd.	Act.	Role
2006	LadyLike					Mother
2007	In Silent Spaces
2008	The Trial of Charumathi					The Fallen One

Awards and nominations

News Reporter

Songhai is the East Coast reporter for FDNNTV.com and was formerly apart of the investigative news team on RNN-TV's magazine program 'The Richard French Live Show', in Westchester County, NY. She covered the Justice beat reporting on issues involving crime, policy, law and the penal system.

Pageantry

Songhai is the 1st woman selected to represent the Miss Black United States competition for 2009. In 2008 she was 1st runner up in the Miss Black USA 2008 pageant held on June 23rd 2008, and is the reigning Miss Black Massachusetts USA. Songhai has had a notable career in the Miss America Pageant system. She won 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 1st Runner up to Miss District of Columbia 2003, 2nd Runner up to Miss District of Columbia, 2001, and was 1st Runner up to Miss Metropolitan Manhattan 2004. Songhai's talent is usually a comedic monologue, and she has won top-inerview, and on-stage question at nearly every pageant in which she has competed.

Name Change

Safiya Songhai. Safiya means clear and pure minded woman in the Swahili Language. After searching for several years to find a surname to match, she chose Songhai from the largest and most accomplished 15th and 16th century West African Empire now present day Burkina Fasso and Niger, whose leaders emphasized education and social, economic and gender equality.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Safiya Songhai

• Safiya Songhai at the Internet Movie Database

• Mpirefilms Official site
• Miss Black USA Official Site
• Miss America Official Site 2004
• Mpirefilms Trademark registered
• New York Times Article