Meet Sharee Silerio: Award-Winning Writer and Filmmaker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sharee Silerio and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sharee, why did you pursue a creative career?
I pursued an artistic career because I wanted to impact people’s hearts, souls and minds by seeing Black people, Black women, Black girls in a light other than what we see most often. I wanted to create films, web series and other projects where Black people are affirmed, uplifted and feel seen. I wanted to make content for Black women and girls who feel invisible, to let them know that they matter.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Growing up, I talked to God all of the time. About my day, my hopes and dreams, the man I wanted to marry – everything. One day, I was sitting on my parents’ bed, eyes closed, with the warmth of the sun’s rays shining on my face. I was praying to God, begging him to make me lighter and take my melanin-rich skin away. When I woke up the next morning and looked in the mirror, a knot of anxiety formed in the middle of my belly. My hopes and dreams were destroyed. I had to live another day as me. From kindergarten to fourth grade, there were few people in my neighborhood who looked like me, so I often felt out of place. It didn’t help that a classmate told me “you’re ugly because you’re black”, while the fifth and sixth graders who looked like me called me “burnt”, “crispy”, “ugly” and “raccoon” among other things.

I absorbed everything everyone said about me and believed that what they said was true. I buried myself in a shell, rarely felt good about myself and started to hide behind big t-shirts, weight and shyness. Writing and watching movies, music videos and TV shows became my refuge. Expressing myself through poetry; videotaping myself lip syncing, dancing to music, and reciting monologues on the family camcorder; and recording my sister and her friend act out scenes of a horror film I wrote allowed me to be and see myself. In college, I was a reporter and anchor for the campus TV news program, and my interests in writing and film merged when I took film classes and wrote my first screenplay.

It was after college and working in unfulfilling communications positions when I realized that I needed to get back to my first love. It was the only place I truly felt alive, understood and full of joy. I started as an intern at STL TV and was promoted and hired to write and produce an entertainment and culture television series. I have been writing, producing and recently directing, ever since. Creating is the outlet through which I express all of the things I needed to say but felt like I couldn’t, as a child, teen and young adult.

My latest project – Black Girl, Bleu – is a short doc featuring candid conversations with women – from a teacher to a community organizer and entrepreneur – who reveal their struggles with mental health, including how the “Strong Black Woman” stereotype impacts their mental wellness and healing. The film recently won an Outstanding Special Programming award from the Oprah Winfrey Network, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Panavision-sponsored Micheaux Film Festival, along with a Best Mental Health Promotion award from the Believe Psychology Film Festival.

Through this film, I want Black women to feel encouraged to seek the help they need. I want them to view themselves as worthy of care. I want them to realize and accept that they don’t always have to be strong and that it’s impossible to always be strong. My mission, vision and purpose for Black Girl, Bleu is to cultivate compassion and empathy so one less Black woman suffers in silence. I want to help more Black women see that it’s okay not to be okay; that they matter; their pain matters; and healing is possible.

Overall, my purpose is to tell stories where Black women + girls exist as full human beings on screen and feel seen, heard, loved and affirmed beyond the screen…to use storytelling to reclaim the perceptions of Blackness while revealing our intrinsic magic, beauty and worth. Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would like to dedicate my Shoutout to my family, friends, sisters in film, mentors and every single person who supports, encourages and believes in me.

I would like to thank the Creator of the universe for creating me to do this work, for filling me with the courage, resolve and tenderness to bring stories to life.

I want to thank my husband Mario for making space for me to be me, cultivate my gifts and bring my purpose to life. I want to thank my mom and dad, sisters and brother, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, sister-friends, sisters in film, and mentors, for I would not be where I am without them.

I appreciate my film/entertainment mentor Rod Pratt, who rests in heaven. I miss him and our pep talks! I thank my favorite Uncle Nell, who has been resting in peace for 5 years, for the love he has been and continues to be in my life. He always encouraged me to be me, write, create and pursue my dreams.

I appreciate every one who has cheered me on, donated a coin or few to help make my visions a reality, liked or shared a post about what I’m working on, or just sent good vibes my way. It all means so much to me.

Website: https://shareesilerio.com/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/ShareeSilerio

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ShareeSilerio

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShareeSilerio

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShareeSilerio

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCumhUVWT8Sv7pJJxDWyichA

Other: https://blackgirlbleu.com/ https://www.facebook.com/BlackGirlBleu https://www.instagram.com/black.girl.bleu/

Image Credits
Chloe Owens and Demetria Smith-Bryant