Avery Kelley is a 17-year-old CEO, creator writer, director, producer, and philanthropist from the south side of Chicago, currently residing in Atlanta, GA.
Since she was a little girl, she has loved everything about The Arts...dancing, and singing, with her passion being writing. In early 2018, Avery decided to take her love for the arts and audition for the part of a 10-year-old prodigy. She was asked to self-tape a monologue in the initial stages of the audition process. Instead of reciting a well-known monologue, she decided to write her own. While nontraditional... it landed her a call back for the role. She declined the role but found her true passion for the arts...writing.
A few months later, Avery began to pen a dramatic comedy, “Back Row,” which she states is inspired by some of her life experiences. In Spring 2019, at 11 years old, Avery filmed a shortepisode of her series, entering it into the Mustard Seed Vision Youth Film Festival. That same summer, Avery established the production company, Inspired Melanin Inc., established to create content that will tell positive black stories. Ever since, Avery has continued to work to create projects that represent the underrepresented, including her short film and pilot episode of her series Back Row, Teendom Talk Show, which she is the host, director, and producer, her short documentary “Soul Train, Soul Change”, a feature-length documentary “One Step at a Time” which she created and co-directed, her philanthropic drive “Love Carries On” which has a mission to raise duffel bags and luggage tags for foster children, and her most recent project “The All Aroundz”, Avery’s award-winning short film that she created, wrote and directed as a part of the Black Girls Film Camp 2023 cohort. Avery’s film “The All Aroundz” has garnered international attention. Most recently it was an Official Selection for the 2023 Black Film Festival Atlanta, noting Avery as the youngest filmmaker ever selected for the festival. To date, “The All Aroundz” has been selected for thirteen film festivals and counting across the globe, including Essence Film Festival, Mill Valley Film Festival, Black Atlanta Film Festival (where she was the youngest director ever selected), and the 2024 Diversity In Cannes Film Showcase..to name a few.
Avery Kelley is a name to look out for. Although young, she has written numerous feature-length films and is in the process of curating other projects that continuously represent the underrepresented.
