Mai Perkins

Mai Perkins is a Brooklyn-based freelance writer and content producer from South L.A. with a knack for editorial storytelling. Since 2021, she's worked on the Emmy-nominated historical genealogy series "Finding Your Roots", and is currently an Associate Producer. She also worked as an Archival Researcher on "Making Black America: Through The Grapevine". Both PBS docuseries are produced by McGee Media and are hosted by Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. 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 "HuffPost", "Relevant" and "Bust" Magazines. 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 the anthology "Dismantle". Mai began in the field of documentary research a few years ago, sourcing archival research assets for independent filmmakers, and she's also worked on film production crews in Los Angeles and New York. In 2014, she spent two months in Hong Kong documenting pro-democracy protests and sustainable housing in the New Territories with a team of grad students. 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, Mai 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 Bachelor's of Fine Arts at Howard University after graduating from Crenshaw High School's Gifted Magnet. In 2015, she received her MA in International Affairs with a concentration in Media & Culture from The New School's Julien J. Studley Graduate Program. In 2018, Perkins published "The Walking Nerve-Ending", a collection of poems and essays. Mai grew up in Los Angeles, minutes from the Crenshaw District's Leimert Park, and has been a resident of New York City for two decades.