Nekisa Cooper

Cooper received a BA from College of William & Mary and an MBA from Clark Atlanta University.^[3]

Following graduation, Cooper began her career as an assistant women's basketball coach at Christopher Newport University and the University of Richmond.^[2][4][5]

In 2005, Rees called Cooper to produce her thesis film, Pariah, a 27-minute drama depicting a girl in Brooklyn coming out as a lesbian. Cooper felt a deep connection to the story.^[6] In 2007, Cooper left the corporate sector and used her 401(k) savings to fund the film, which won the Audience Award at the Los Angeles Film Festival that same year.^[6]

In 2009, Cooper and Rees won the Iris Prize to produce a short film in Cardiff, Wales called Colonial Gods, which was critical to developing Pariah's visual aesthetic.^[7]

Nekisa supplemented her independent producing efforts by participating in multiple programs, such as Sundance Institute Creative Producing Lab, Film Independent’s Project Involve, The Rotterdam/Cinemart Producing Lab, The Gotham Film and Media Institutes (FKA IFP) IFP Market, The Transatlantic Producing Partners Program, and The Tribeca Film Institute’s All Access Program.^[8][9]

In 2011, Cooper produced Pariah, which centers on an African-American lesbian woman, and was marketed to a wider audience and branded as a coming-of-age tale with broad appeal.^[10] On December 1, 2011, the National Board of Review gave the film its Freedom of Expression Award.^[11] On June 29, 2021, Pariah became part of the Criterion Collection and earned a release of a special edition of the film on Blu-ray and includes behind the scenes on the making of the film.^[12][13] In 2022, the Library of Congress selected Pariah to the American National Film Registry, recognizing its cultural, historical, and aesthetic significance.^[14]

In 2014 Cooper joined MasterClass as lead freelance executive producer and in 2016, she became their first vice president of production then she served as the vice president of Content until 2023 where she oversaw the creation of the library with such instructors as Shonda Rhimes, Martin Scorsese, Sara Blakely, Neil Gaiman, Roxane Gay, Stephen Curry, Amy Tan, Walter Mosley, St. Vincent, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Malala Yousafzai, Tony Hawk and more.^[2][15]

In 2021, Cooper joined the Board of Directors of Chicken & Egg Pictures and served as vice president since January 2023.^[16] In December 2023, Cooper was appointed as the President of the Board of Directors for Chicken & Egg Pictures, a non-profit organization which provides funding and support to women and non-binary documentary filmmakers.^[17]