Robin J. Hayes
- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Dr. Robin J. Hayes is proudly Queer and hails from a blended African American, Afro-Caribbean, and Latine family in Brooklyn (before it was artisanal). She is a writer and co-Executive Producer for the forthcoming Fremantle series "Sandokan & Marianne." With her distinct combination of diverse personal background, world-class scholarly expertise, and wealth of life experience, Robin excels at telling stories that are equal parts ravishing, relentless, and ratchet. In her work, love is the message. Oppositional is the gaze.
Robin survived a difficult home life with alcoholic (sometimes incarcerated) parents. On academic scholarship, she attended St. George's, an elite New England boarding school, and NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. After graduating college with honors, she collaborated with veterans, clergy, and soccer moms to lead dozens of humanitarian aid missions to Mexico, Cuba, and Central America. Later, she studied at the Sorbonne in Paris and Yale University, where she earned a PhD in political science and African American studies.
As a professor at Williams, Northwestern, and other prestigious colleges and universities, Robin wrote, produced, and directed the award-winning documentary "Black and Cuba", which streams on Amazon Prime Video and Peacock. She's published essays in "The Atlantic", produced the prize-winning play, "9 Grams" (directed by Obie and Emmy winner S. Epatha Merkerson), and received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Ford Foundation. Her research and creative practice have led her to travel to over 30 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas.
Robin's Pulitzer Prize-nominated history book, "Love for Liberation: African Independence, Black Power, and a Diaspora Underground" was published recently published to critical acclaim. She was chosen as a fellow for both the Google-funded Women in Film Shorts Lab and The Black List/Women in Film Episodic Lab. A surfing, fashion, and fine art enthusiast, Robin is based in Los Angeles.
Robin survived a difficult home life with alcoholic (sometimes incarcerated) parents. On academic scholarship, she attended St. George's, an elite New England boarding school, and NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. After graduating college with honors, she collaborated with veterans, clergy, and soccer moms to lead dozens of humanitarian aid missions to Mexico, Cuba, and Central America. Later, she studied at the Sorbonne in Paris and Yale University, where she earned a PhD in political science and African American studies.
As a professor at Williams, Northwestern, and other prestigious colleges and universities, Robin wrote, produced, and directed the award-winning documentary "Black and Cuba", which streams on Amazon Prime Video and Peacock. She's published essays in "The Atlantic", produced the prize-winning play, "9 Grams" (directed by Obie and Emmy winner S. Epatha Merkerson), and received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Ford Foundation. Her research and creative practice have led her to travel to over 30 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas.
Robin's Pulitzer Prize-nominated history book, "Love for Liberation: African Independence, Black Power, and a Diaspora Underground" was published recently published to critical acclaim. She was chosen as a fellow for both the Google-funded Women in Film Shorts Lab and The Black List/Women in Film Episodic Lab. A surfing, fashion, and fine art enthusiast, Robin is based in Los Angeles.
