Culture & Perspective

What Isisara
finds noteworthy.

The films, books, and theatre that shape how she sees the world — curated by a woman who has spent her life at the intersection of culture, justice, and the human story.

Short Films

Films worth
your time.

Curated by the Artistic Director of the March on Washington Film Festival — short films that illuminate the human condition in under 30 minutes. Each one selected because it moved her, challenged her, or showed her something she hadn't seen before.

Novel · Identity

13th

Ava DuVernay's documentary exploring the intersection of race, justice, and mass incarceration. Essential viewing for understanding America.

Dir. Ava DuVernay · 2016

Short Film

Hair Love

Maya Angelou's account of her early life is a masterclass in survival, grace, and the transformative power of language and story.

Dir. Matthew A. Cherry · 2019

Documentary Short

A Concerto Is a Conversation

A grandson and grandfather in conversation, framed around the composition of a piano concerto. About memory, jazz, and what we pass on.

Dir. Ben Proudfoot · 2021

Books

Books that
changed me.

From James Baldwin to contemporary memoir — the books Isisara reads, returns to, and presses into the hands of everyone she meets. Not a reading list. A personal reckoning.

Novel · Identity

Giovanni's Room

Baldwin at his most devastating — a novel about desire, exile, and the cost of refusing to know yourself. One of the great American novels.

James Baldwin · 1956

Memoir · Activism

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Maya Angelou's account of her early life is a masterclass in survival, grace, and the transformative power of language and story.

Maya Angelou · 1969

Non-fiction · Culture

Between the World and Me

Ta-Nehisi Coates writes a letter to his son about what it means to inhabit a Black body in America. Urgent, lyrical, necessary.

Ta-Nehisi Coates · 2015

Theatre & Plays

The stage
endures.

On live performance — why theatre is one of the last truly communal experiences, and the plays she believes everyone should encounter at least once in their lives.

Play · History

A Raisin in the Sun

Lorraine Hansberry's masterwork remains as vital today as it was in 1959. A family. A dream. The weight of what America promises and withholds.

Lorraine Hansberry · 1959

Musical · Legacy

Hamilton

Lin-Manuel Miranda's reframing of the founding mythology — who tells America's story, and who gets left out of it. Electrifying and infuriating in the best way.

Lin-Manuel Miranda · 2015

Play · Identity

For Colored Girls...

Ntozake Shange's choreopoem is not a play — it's a ritual. A homecoming. Every Black woman who encounters it recognizes herself on that stage.

Ntozake Shange · 1975

COUTURE & STYLE

Dressed with
intention.

What we choose to wear is never just about clothing. It is about armor, identity, memory, and the silent conversation we have with the world before we say a word. These are designers and artisans Isisara returns to — creators whose work understands that what we wear can carry culture, craftsmanship, beauty, and story.

Epperson Studio

Rodney Epperson

Epperson approaches clothing with an artist's eye — creating distinctive pieces where silhouette, movement, and individuality take precedence over convention. His work reflects the kind of dressing Isisara values: expressive, intentional, and entirely one's own.

https://www.eppersonstudio.com/

Sophistifunk

Arlinda

Jewelry can be more than an accessory; it can become part of how a woman is recognized. Isisara's earrings from Sophistifunk bring that kind of presence — distinctive pieces chosen for their artistry, personality, and ability to complete a look without surrendering individuality.

https://sofistafunk.com/

LEATHER · ART · ADORNMENT

Marvin Sin & Akosua Bandale

Leather, paint, jewelry, and craftsmanship meet in the work of Marvin Sin and Akosua Bandale. Isisara owns several of their pieces, including distinctive leatherwork and jewelry — objects that live somewhere between functional design, wearable art, and personal expression.

https://marvinsin.com/

What Isisara finds noteworthy.

Films worth your time.

13th

Hair Love

A Concerto Is a Conversation

What Isisara
finds noteworthy.

Films worth
your time.