Director Yoruba Richen is a journalist and documentary filmmaker who has worked on films that have aired on HBO, A&E and BET. She was the co-producer of Take it From Me, a documentary exploring the effects of welfare reform on New York City women, which was broadcast on POV in 2001. Richen was also an associate producer for the investigative unit of ABC News, as well as a producer for the independent radio and television news program "Democracy Now". She is the recipient of numerous grants, including a Fulbright Award and a Diversity Development Fund grant from the Independent Television Service (ITVS).
Richen, who received a bachelor's degree from Brown University and master's degree in city planning from the University of California, Berkeley, is an adjunct professor at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. She is currently developing The New Black, a documentary that examines the complicated, combative and overlapping histories of the African-American and LGBTQ civil rights movements. Richen was born and raised in Harlem in New York City and currently resides in Brooklyn.