Melissa Adeyemo is an award-winning Nigerian-American film producer and media entrepreneur, the founder of Ominira Studios, and the cofounder of Ejima Films based in Nigeria. For the last two decades, Melissa has worked between Nigeria and the United States in all film industry sectors, from distribution, franchising, and mass entertainment to independent production and development. Driven by the belief that Black people have the right to see themselves in the highest forms of art and film, she settled on independent creative production and development, founding US-based production company Ominira Studios in 2018. Her first feature film as lead producer, Eyimofe, which was shot on 16MM film in Lagos, Nigeria, premiered at the 2020 Berlinale Film Festival to wide acclaim. After enjoying an international award-winning festival run, bringing in prizes at the Torino Film Festival, Seattle Film Festival, and San Francisco Film Festival, and extensive, glowing reviews in Variety, New York Times’ Critics Pick, and the New Yorker, among others. The film was acquired by Janus Films to become a part of the prestigious Criterion Collection – the first Nigerian film ever to be included on the list. The film also won five awards at the Africa Movie Academy Awards in 2021. Melissa is dedicated to producing content that speaks to the diversity and expansiveness of the global African diaspora and to executing projects held to the highest standards of excellence. Melissa is currently working on her first documentary feature, Dusty and Stones, a recipient of the Keep the Lights on Fund associated with XTR Film Society, Wavelength Productions, and Park Pictures. She was a part of 2019's Only in New York Program for Doc NYC. Dusty and Stones is a 2021 Gotham Documentary Lab recipient and the 2021 Durban Film Mart Financing Intensive. Within the last two years, Melissa was a 2022 Cannes Producers Fellow and a Creative Producers Indaba Fellow, an inaugural fellowship for African producers in partnership with EAVE, the Sundance Producers Lab, and IFFR. She is a Gotham Episodic Lab Fellow and an Attagirl Development Lab Fellow. The latter is where she and her director, Abbesi Akhamie, acquired the Peer Prize. The award is an open cash grant awarded to an early-stage project that best exemplifies distinction, innovation, and viability, in association with the Sydney Film Festival. Melissa used her extensive and varied experience in media and entertainment as a foundation for her producing career. She was a strategy consultant at PwC Strategy &, in their entertainment, media, and technology division. She was the third employee at ROK Studios, the production arm of iROKOtv – the first major online distributor of Nollywood content. At Nickelodeon Recreation, she built and deepened her knowledge of the licensing, consumer products, and amusements businesses. Early in her career, Melissa worked at several independent film companies, including Women Make Movies and New Line Cinema. She started her filmmaking career on Spike Lee's Inside Man, and Steven Spielberg's Munich. Melissa holds an MBA from New York University's Stern School of Business in Entrepreneurship, Strategy, and Entertainment, Media and Technology (EMT). She received her BA from Columbia University in African Studies with an independent concentration in Media and Film.