Aziza Mabrey-Wakefield

Her first dream job was to be a superhero. Aziza inherited her father’s comic book collection published in the 1970s and ’80s with “mostly cisgender, straight white men who saved the world.” After consuming the comic collection, to Aziza’s great delight, The Avengers was released in 2012. She found the cinematography gripping but later realized, “the storylines did not evolve.” With 30 years in between, why wasn’t there more diversity in the writing and the characters? “It was disheartening to realize at such a young age that my two passions did not create space for women, BIPOC, and LGBTQIA+ people to craft films and comics that would capture the imagination of people around the world.” Inspired by words from The Dark Knight, “Everything is impossible until someone does it,” Aziza enrolled in film and art classes to begin writing her own stories.

A musician and social change agent, Aziza plays first saxophone in the concert band at her school and second cello in the orchestra. She became the founder and organizer of The Young Women of Color Symposium for women in Chicago and a founding member and head of Women of Color Affinity Group (WOCA). She conducted an independent study in stage management and managed the fall and spring musicals at her school. She has also played basketball at her school since the 9th grade. Of the girls basketball team she noted, “Historically, the team has been overlooked. Even though the girls had a better record than the boys, the stigma surrounding ‘girls’ basketball seemed to make people apathetic.” So Aziza produced a short documentary about her team to address “the blatant sexism people harbor” within sports.

A dedicated student at Francis Parker, Aziza plans to study sociology at Grinnell and pursue a range of cultural, ethnic, social justice, and LGBT-related activities while remaining involved with music, film, and theatrical productions.