Omotayo Banjo , Ph.D. is  a Professor of Communication at the University of Cincinnati, where she also serves as Associate Dean for Research and Creative Impact in the Graduate College. A second-generation American and the child of Nigerian immigrants, her research and creative work center Black narratives and Black audiences across the diaspora, examining how media shapes the way we see one another racially and culturally. Her work has earned her the College of Arts and Sciences Rising Star Award (2017), a Fulbright scholarship at Covenant University in Nigeria (2019), and a Niehoff Professorship (2020), and led her to co-found the entertainment consulting firm Uncommon Eye. Dr. Banjo brings that same lens of critical, empowering storytelling to her documentary work, using film to challenge dominant narratives and illuminate stories too often left untold.