This year was one of the first that I truly began “working” in the horror field. Between the panels, starting this blog, my podcast, or hosting my own horror movie live show, 2018 was a big year for me and my career trajectory. One of the other major things was my discovery of just how many other black women are out in the world trying to carve out a niche in the big, bad world of horror. Everyone knows that most of the industry is white dudes (I’m not even going to pretend to be PC about this), who make very little room for anyone who isn’t another white dude. But there are women out here who are really working to expand the definition of what we know as a “horror fan”.

• Ashlee Blackwell – graveyardshiftsisters.com – academic/writer
• The members of Audre’s Revenge a collective of artists “determined to promote visibility of QTIBIPOC in the Sci-Fi and Horror Universe.”
• Baby Succubus – model/fashionista
• Betty Gabriel – actress – Get Out/ Upgrade/ Unfriended
• Glam Goth – glam-goth-beauty.myshopify.com – Makeup artist/Mogul
• Levana Lenoir – model/fashionista
• Melody Cooper –melodymcooper.com – filmmaker/screen writer
• Robin R Means Coleman – academic/writer – Author of Horror Noire:Blacks in American Horror Films from the 1890s to Present
• Tananarive Due – academic/teacher/writer
• Vampology – model/fashonista
• ZENA DIXON – RealQueenofHorror.com – Zena’s Period Blood – academic/writer/filmmaker

Honorable mention for their work in the Afrofuturism/Afrofantasy genre placing black faces and bodies into spaces that are sometimes horrific but also fantastic. If you haven’t read any of their works you have to pick it up. These women are truly the leads in the science fiction/fantasy genre and are modern masters.

• Nalo Hopkinson
• Nisi Shawl
• N.K. Jemisin
• Nnedi Okorafor

 

I would love to know more black women who are working in fields like fashion design, mortuary science, acting, filmmaking, music, and art, whose work moves into the “horrific”. That can really be a broad topic so I’m leaving the door wide open for anyone who works in the field of horror. In 2019, part of what I really want to focus on is promoting these women and finding even more to reach out to and encourage. If you have any more you’d recommend, please put them in the comments and support the works of these women!