Mai Perkins

Mai Perkins is a Brooklyn-based seasoned journalist and content creator from South LA with a knack for editorial storytelling. She works in documentary research on the historical genealogy PBS series, Finding Your Roots, and worked as an Archival researcher on Making Black America: Through The Grapevine, both produced through McGee Media. In 2022, she worked as an Associate Archival Producer on the Showtime Sports Emmy-Nominated documentary NYC Point Gods. As a freelancer, she has contributed to sociocultural digital platforms such as The Progress, The New Context, Pop Magazine, Black-Owned Brooklyn and Shoppe Black. She has also written for Relevant and Bust Magazine. As an alum of VONA/Voices of Our Nation Arts Foundation, the only multi-genre workshop for writers of color, her work has been featured in several anthologies including Dismantle. A jack of all trades, Perkins has also worked in the field on film production crews in Los Angeles and New York. In 2014 spent she time in Hong Kong documenting pro-democracy protests and sustainable housing in the New Territories. Mai began in the field of documentary research a few years ago, sourcing archival research assets for independent filmmakers. In 2020, she became social media manager for Ujima Entertainment Coalition, a collaborative space for post-production professionals of the African diaspora to revel in their passion for a spectrum of black stories while advancing their careers.

Completing a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Sarah Lawrence College, Perkins has taught writing courses at City University of New York's College of Staten Island and Kingsborough Community College. In addition to studying writing at Sarah Lawrence, she also completed her BFA at Howard University after graduating from Crenshaw High School, and received her MA in International Affairs with a concentration in Media and Culture at The New School's Julien J. Studley Graduate Program. In 2018, Perkins published The Walking Nerve-Ending, 1st and 2nd Edition. Mai grew up in Los Angeles about a mile from the Crenshaw District's Leimert Park and has been a resident of New York City for nearly 20 years.