Meet Career Development Program Assistant Aliyah Grant

Aliyah Grant is one of the newest members of the Reel Works team. As the Career Development Program Assistant, she is working within the MediaMKRS team to support the Career Development Programs and graduates of all of the MediaMKRS programs in gaining access to jobs in media. 

In May 2021 she graduated from Long Island University: Global, a four-year study abroad program where she studied in 12+ countries, with a B.A. in Global Studies and minors in International Relations and Arts & Communications. While studying in Australia she took a course titled Race, Power, & Indigeneity, where it became apparent to her how far the media industry needs to go in order to decolonize. Using this newfound knowledge, she wrote her senior thesis on how Black and Indigenous film is used as a method of decolonization in settler-colonial nations. In her professional career she’s interned at the Byron Bay International Film Festival, Mother Jungle (an Indigenous focused documentary NGO in Indonesia), The Black TV and Film Collective, and CINQUA studios, where she served as a production intern for their Maurice Hines: Bring Them Back documentary. 

When she’s not working she volunteers at The World Within Us, a sustainable tourism company that prioritizes female and Indigenous empowerment, environmental conservation, and investing in local economies. She also is a volunteer at Operation Period, a volunteer-led organization that aims to abolish any social, political, economic system or situational barrier that prevents a person from experiencing their period in an empowered and dignified way. 

Excited to finally be working behind the scenes, Aliyah hopes to uplift marginalized and minority voices by helping them get careers within the entertainment industry.