Biography

Shayla Racquel is an energetic, quintessential creative with a passion for storytelling birthed and honed by her southern roots. She is no stranger to overcoming odds - diagnosed with Sickle Cell Disease at birth and a stroke at the mere age of 12, her battle with this illness brought her closer to the art of storytelling, which unlocked her love for filmmaking.

Though Shayla considers herself genre-agnostic, as a director, Shayla gravitates towards genre-bending projects where she can offer comedic elements to stories with subtle yet significant messaging, real dramatic stakes, and heightened tension. She creates and gravitates toward stories featuring chaotic female characters with multifarious identities navigating a world where they are forced to choose just one.

Shayla Racquel's work has been featured in over 40 film festivals and has received over 20 awards to date, including a Student Emmy from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences - National Capital Chapter. Her storytelling capabilities have been featured by the Washington Post, VIBE magazine, and a plethora of other notable outlets. She was recently highlighted as one of OkayPlayer's Eight Up-And-Coming Directors That Should Be On Your Radar.

Shayla has completed a shadow directing assignment with ABC/Disney - shadowing two directors on The Wonder Years. In 2021, she was tapped to direct a short project on behalf of the John Singleton embRACE Initiative in collaboration with the city of Los Angeles. The award-winning short was acquired by AMC ALLBLK and given a seven-figure budget to expand into a feature film. Shayla Racquel was the lead director of the premiere show for Keke Palmer's KeyTV Network and has since garnered over a million views. She is a 2020 and 2023 Seriesfest x Shondaland Women's Directing Mentorship Program finalist, the 2023 Recipient of the South Carolina Film Commission Indie Grant Award, the 2023 Finalist for the National Black Arts Horizon Award for Emerging Artists grant, and a 2023 Film Impact Georgia Finalist. Lastly, she works as a director/producer in the commercial space. She has participated in the creation of global campaigns with clients such as American Cancer Society, Procter & Gamble, Design Essentials, Facebook Meta, and many more.

Shayla Racquel bleeds Orange & Green, holding a Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems from the illustrious Florida A&M University. In 2018, she received her Master of Fine Arts in Film & Electronic Media from American University. Her felicific smile and appreciation for life brighten any room - you will always know it's her when she greets you with, "Smiles are Sunshine for the Soul!"
- IMDb mini biography by: Shayla Racquel