WIF AND MAX MARA

Actress and change-maker Yara Shahidi will be the 18th recipient of the annual WIF Max Mara Face of the Future Award® to be presented to her during the 2023 WIF Honors on Thursday, November 30th.

Fighting for gender parity and equity in the entertainment industry since 1973, this year’s WIF Honors will also commemorate WIF’s 50th anniversary. The WIF Max Mara Face of the Future Award® recognizes Shahidi’s impressive acting and producing work within the screen industries, her fight for inclusivity and equity, and her embodiment of style and grace. Shahidi will travel to Milan, Italy to meet the Maramotti family and attend the Max Mara Spring/Summer 2024 Fashion Show on Thursday, September 21st.

“I am thrilled to honor Yara Shahidi as our 2023 WIF Max Mara Face of the Future. Her outstanding work, both on- and off-screen, is an incredible inspiration. 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,” said Maria Giulia Prezioso Maramotti, third generation of Maramotti Family and Max Mara Global Brand Ambassador.

“WIF is beyond thrilled to honor Yara with this year’s WIF Max Mara Face of the Future Award. 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. 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,” said Kirsten Schaffer, CEO of WIF.

Yara Shahidi is an award-winning actress, producer, and the breakout star of ABC’s Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated series black-ish, who has quickly established herself as an impressive multi-hyphenate and one-to-watch in Hollywood on screen and the red carpet. In 2019, alongside her business partner and mother, Keri Shahidi, she expanded her relationship with ABC by signing a multi-year producing deal under the moniker “7th Sun Productions.

” Currently, she serves as executive producer and lead of Freeform’s black-ish spinoff series, grown-ish. The beloved series, which is in its sixth and final season, is the #1 cable comedy among the 18-49 year-old demographic Earlier this month, Shahidi executive produced and starred in the coming of age Amazon Studios’ film, Sitting in Bars with Cake. Based on a true story, the movie centers around female friendship, navigating life in your twenties and dealing with loss. 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.

Offscreen, Shahidi is a champion for inclusive media programming, and an advocate for equity. Identified as a leader of the New Hollywood guard, she has received numerous accolades for her work outside of entertainment, such as TIME Magazine’s 30 Most Influential Teens, Forbes 30 Under 30, British Vogue Forces for Change, Glamour Magazine’s Women of the Year and Essence Magazine’s Black Women in Hollywood to name a few. Inspired by her extensive work with President and First Lady Obama, Shahidi founded Eighteen x 18, now called WeVoteNext, to shine a light on Gen Z and BIPOC inclusion in the political process. A sought-after public speaker, Shahidi has appeared in conversation with university peers and thought leaders such as: Dr. Angela Davis, President Obama, Harry Belafonte Jr., former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Dr. Cornel West, Senator Cory Booker, and Senator Rev. Raphael Warnock.

In May 2022, she graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. in Social Studies and African American Studies, with a concentration in Black Political Thought Under a Neocolonial Landscape. Her final thesis for graduation was entitled, “I AM A MAN”: The Emancipation of \ Humanness from Western Hegemony Through the Lens of Sylvia Wynter.