AWARD TIME: Actress Yara Shahidi will be the 18th recipient of the annual WIF Max Mara Face of the Future Award, to be presented during the 2023 WIF Honors on Nov. 30, which this year marks its 50th anniversary.
Shahidi will attend the Max Mara spring 2024 show in Milan on Thursday.
Maria Giulia Prezioso Maramotti, Max Mara’s global brand ambassador, praised Shahidi’s “outstanding work, both on- and off-screen,” describing it as “an incredible inspiration.”
She said that, “as a brand we are extremely proud to be associated with a talented artist, a successful entrepreneur, an accomplished activist, and a graceful ambassador for culture at such a deep and honest level. She is an exceptional ambassador for all the messages that we strive to send to women in our community.”
Fighting for gender parity and equity in the entertainment industry since 1973, the award recognizes not only Shahidi’s professional career but also her fight for inclusivity and equity.
“At just 23, Yara has already cemented herself as a style icon, an incredibly talented actress and producer, and most critically, as a fierce advocate for equity within the entertainment industry and beyond,” said Kirsten Schaffer, chief executive officer of WIF. “Yara has shown tireless commitment throughout her career to bettering our world. Her leadership amongst her generation makes Yara the perfect complement to the list of talented women who have received this award over the past 18 years.”
Shahidi is the breakout star of ABC’s Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated series “Black-ish” and in 2019, alongside her business partner and mother Keri Shahidi, she expanded her relationship with ABC by signing a multiyear producing deal under the moniker “7th Sun Productions.”
She serves as executive producer and lead of Freeform’s “Black-ish” spinoff series, “Grown-ish.”
Earlier this month Shahidi executive produced and starred in the Amazon Studios’ film “Sitting in Bars with Cake.” Additional recent credits include Apple’s limited series “Extrapolations” and Meta’s “Yara Shahidi’s Day Off,” an interview-style show which she both starred in and executive produced.
Inspired by her extensive work with President and First Lady Barack and Michelle Obama, Shahidi founded Eighteen x 18, now called WeVoteNext, to shine a light on Gen Z and Black, Indigenous and people of color inclusion in the political process.
Founded in 1973 as Women in Film, Los Angeles, WIF advocates for and advances the careers of women working in the screen industries, to achieve parity and transform culture. Past recipients include Zazie Beetz, Gemma Chan, Elizabeth Debicki, Alexandra Shipp, Zoey Deutch, Natalie Dormer, Kate Mara, Rose Byrne, Hailee Steinfeld, Chloë Grace Moretz, Katie Holmes, Zoë Saldana, Elizabeth Banks, Ginnifer Goodwin, Emily Blunt and Maria Bello. Last year, Lili Reinhart was bestowed the award.
