Zellah Dee

Shaniqua Durant was expected to play basketball all her life. After all, she had been playing since she was seven. Her mother suggested singing and piano lessons, but she was dead set on being in the WNBA. That all changed in college when she figured out her true passion of
storytelling. It started with a poem, then songs, and then novels. She realized she’d been stuck in her own world and telling stories since childhood. She regretted not getting those music lessons when she discovered just how much she loved the arts.

Without any knowledge of how to run a production, she wrote, directed and produced her first web series during her last semester of undergrad at Florida A&M. Hanging up her four-year varsity letterman jacket and retiring her hoop shoes was the best decision she ever made. Shaniqua would soon transform by changing her name to “Zellah Dee” professionally to pay homage to her late grandmother and also to write for the unheard voices of the world. Zellah is a 2017 Graduate of Loyola Marymount University Los Angeles where she received her MFA in Feature Film Screenwriting. She currently resides in Jacksonville, Fl temporarily as a Substitute Teacher.