Yahya McClain, a Marine for life and CEO of YAH Filmworks Inc. has been involved in the entertainment world for more than 30 years. Yahya not only succeeded as a professional boxer, becoming a Two Time World Champion, but he also learned the management and promotional aspect of the entertainment business.
In 1990, he founded Yahya Worldwide, a promotional company that promoted jazz concerts in Atlanta, Georgia and Las Vegas, Nevada. Artists such as Najee, Will Downing jr, Jon B and Aaron Hall among many others. In between training and boxing Yahya co-wrote and co- produced The Soda Pop Dance Show, a teen dance show that aired weekly, live on cable TV in Las Vegas.
In 1994 Yahya toured the East Coast promoting step showed at various HBCUs.
In 1999 Yahya began training and advising Laila Ali. Securing endorsements with large company’s such as adiddas, Ford, and Soft Sheen Carson to name a few. Yahya also spearheaded her entire boxing career. He worked tirelessly to make sure Laila stayed on course at the right pace.
In January 2001 Absoloot Boxing created the boxing event Ali Frazier IV (The Daughters 30 Years Later). The Ali Frazier IV fight was the first time in history that a women’s bout was the main event on a Pay-Per-View show. The event was projected to sell only 30,000-40,000 buys, but well beyond expectations, the fight sold more than 100,000 buys.
In 2002 Yahya opened Absoloot Boxing and Fitness Gym, home of the Absoloot Awareness Foundation (AAF). AAF is a foundation set up to fight obesity in youth through boxing, education, and mentoring. To ensure that kids are better equipped to be successful, upstanding citizens of society.
Yahya’s entrepreneurial mind has taken his career in many directions. In 1995 he began acting, but has since developed a strong passion for bringing his thoughts from script to screen. He helped produce the feature film Heroes in 2009. In 2010, Yahya created the reality show Comedy Camp.
His latest endeavor is YAH Filmworks Inc., a film and television production company. YAH Filmworks’ debut project, C.I.G.A.R. The Movie, is a suspense filled drama about Corruption, Intellect, Greed, And Robbery. C.I.G.A.R. The Movie has appeared in multiple film festivals around the country. In San Diego C.I.G.A.R. was nominated for three awards at the SDBFF. Those nominations, has motivated Yahya to go back to school full time to learn the art of filmmaking.
Yahya enrolled in the Art Institute of Atlanta as a full time student at the ripe age of 47. Now dedicated to making movies that will impact the world. His next film, Comedy Camp, is a feature film about a reality show about overweight comedians joining a boxer’s boot camp to learn to fight obesity. They compete to lose weight by while using laughter to educate. Comedy Camp was entered into the Chelsea Film Festival 2015, in NY. There were over forty filmmakers that entered their short film and Yahya won the Best Director Award. Yahya also Wrote, Directed, Produced and Starred in #ThetimeisNOW another short film of his. #ThetimeisNOW won the Best Short Award in the 2015, 10th Annual Peachtree Village International Film Festival in Atlanta.