FROM THE DELTA TO THE DOLBY | LEATHA NAMED ME AMBER

FROM AMBER’S DESK · HEART + CULTURE PILLAR

Bliss Collective,

I need you to sit with this one.

Sunday night, the 98th Academy Awards aired from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. Michael B. Jordan stood at that podium with his first Oscar in hand. And the first words out of his mouth were:

That’s the whole sermon.

He didn’t lead with the Academy. Not his studio. Not the industry that spent years deciding whether he was worthy. He led with his mother. For the sacrifices. For the belief. For seeing his greatness and believing in him before the world was ready to confirm it.

I felt that in my chest and somewhere below my ribs. Because some of us know exactly what it is like to be seen early not by the world, not by the industry, not by the people who were supposed to, but by one person who looked at what you were made of and just knew.

My great-grandmother Leatha was born February 24, 1926, in Jackson, Mississippi.

She named me Amber.

Not a common name. Not an ethnic name. Not the nonsense my mom almost gave me that merged her name and my dad’s into something I’d have spent a lifetime correcting. Leatha gave me Amber, a name with weight in it. A name that walked into rooms before I did and made people pause. A name that carried expectation she didn’t explain and didn’t need to.

She gave me that name because she saw something. She knew I was on assignment. And she made sure I’d be equipped to carry it.

I didn’t understand what she saw until I was standing in a hospital boardroom in New York City.

The only Black person at the table. Booty-length braids. Long acrylic nails. Tatted. Face beat. Walking in exactly as I was. Articulating clearly. No code-switching. No shrinking. No performance.

And every person in that room was quietly recalibrating wondering if I belonged there.

I did. I always did. I belonged.

I came straight out of South Central Los Angeles. No connections. No legacy. No roadmap passed down. I came from survival.

Three jobs. Long nights and early mornings. Homelessness. Setbacks that would have stopped someone who didn’t have a name given to them by a woman born in 1926 Jackson, Mississippi who already knew I was meant for more. I didn’t stop. I kept studying. I kept showing up. I endured through every single obstacle life put before me and I pushed through it as myself.

Fifteen years of combined experience as a clinician and in healthcare administration. Tenures at top institutions in Los Angeles and New York. I sat in rooms that were never designed for someone who looks like me. I didn’t just survive and sit in them.

I proved I was vital to their operations. I wasn’t good enough. I was great. My larger-than-life personality had a way of making small people smaller, insecure people uncomfortable, and confused people fade deeper into the background. That was never the goal. It was just the natural result of someone who knew exactly who they were and refused to make themselves smaller for the comfort of others.

The name opened doors. The knowledge made me undeniable. And Leatha who never saw New York City, who never imagined a Black woman founding a media company —made sure I’d be ready for both.

My aunt Nicci once said something I have never forgotten:

I think about that every time I sit down to write this newsletter. Every time I publish something that reaches further than I expected. Every time I realize that what Leatha started in 1926 Mississippi wasn’t just about me.

Purpose is walking alone when the people closest to you can’t see it yet, when you’re starting and stopping and trying new things until you find your flow. Faith is holding onto the promises God gave you years ago when your circumstances look nothing like what you were shown. And confirmation, confirmation is Sunday night, March 15, 2026, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

Because Ryan Coogler kept doing what he loved. He kept betting on his stories, on his people, on his vision and his wife Zinzi stood beside him on every set before anyone was watching, believing it would pay off. Michael B. Jordan kept showing up. Kept challenging himself. Kept going long after the world was ready to hand him his flowers.

Not because they got lucky. Not because the right person finally noticed them.

Because they knew who they were before anyone else confirmed it.

That’s the assignment.

Know yourself before the validation.

Do the work before the applause.

Build the foundation before anyone can see it.

The brick was always there.

Leatha placed it in 1926. I’ve been building on it ever since.

THE RECORD · CULTURE + KNOWLEDGE PILLAR

Sinners Made History | Here Is Exactly What This Means

This wasn’t a good night for Black Hollywood. This was a reconfiguration of what is possible. Let’s be precise, because precision is how we remember it.

The Film

Record-breaking nominations: Sinners received 16 Oscar nominations at the 98th Academy Awards the most nominations for any film in Oscar history, surpassing the previous record of 14 shared by All About Eve, Titanic, and La La Land. A 2025 film about Black twins, a juke joint, and the Mississippi Delta just became the most-nominated film in a century of cinema.

4 wins: Best Actor (Michael B. Jordan), Best Original Screenplay (Ryan Coogler), Best Cinematography (Autumn Durald Arkapaw), Best Original Score (Ludwig Göransson).

Grossed 369 million worldwide: On an original screenplay, with no franchise, no pre-existing IP, no safety net. In an era when studios keep telling us original Black stories don’t sell.

The People + History

Michael B. Jordan — Best Actor. His first Oscar. He opened his speech with his mother and closed with his ancestors. He named Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Jamie Foxx, Forest Whitaker, Will Smith. He said: “I stand here because of the people that came before me.” That is lineage. That is legacy. That is the long game.

Ryan Coogler — Best Original Screenplay. His first Oscar. He grew up in Oakland. He built Proximity Media with nothing but vision and the people he trusted. He told his kids: “When y’all are blessed to live a long life and dad becomes just a memory, I want y’all to remember this one thing: I love y’all more than anything.” Sunday night, the industry confirmed what he already knew.

Autumn Durald Arkapaw — Best Cinematography. The first woman, first Black person, and first Filipino to win in the category’s 100-year history. One award. Three historic firsts. She said it best in her acceptance speech: “Moments like this happen because of you.”

Ruth E. Carter — Nominated, Costume Design. Her fifth nomination for Sinners makes her the most-nominated Black woman in Academy Awards history across all categories. She did not win this year. But as she told NPR the week before: “It’s calling them out, because it shouldn’t be that way.” Ruth E. Carter is the historian of Black costume. She belongs in every room she’s in.

Zinzi Coogler — Producer, nominated Best Picture. First Filipino producer and the third Black woman nominated for Best Picture. She and Ryan are the first Black married couple nominated together in the category. Ryan said of her at the Critics Choice Awards: “She was there on every set, always in the background, never getting credit. And in this movie, she was my boss, and it was awesome. I think she’s the biggest reason why this movie is so good.”

16 nominations. 4 wins. 3 historic firsts. 100 years of cinema. One night at the Dolby. They couldn’t deny it anymore.

Bonus Fact: Ludwig Göransson at the Grammys the score for Sinners swept the 68th Grammy Awards in February 2026 of Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media and Best Compilation Soundtrack, both to composer Ludwig Göransson. He then won the Oscar for Best Original Score on March 15. A Grammy-to-Oscar sweep for a score rooted in the Delta blues, composed by a Swedish musician whose father was a guitar teacher who loved the blues.

Sources: Oakland Side Mar. 15, 2026; Hollywood Reporter; IndieWire; Variety; Washington Informer; NPR; Billboard; Britannica

WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH + THE WOMEN YOU SHOULD KNOW

While the World Was Watching the Dolby, These Women Were in the Rooms Nobody’s Filming Yet.

Sunday night was full of names the world already knows. But Women’s History Month is also about the women who are building the body of work that precedes the recognition the ones in the rooms people are filming but are behind the scene and if you blink you may miss them.

Bliss Collective, let me introduce you to two of them.

Janelle Nicole Carothers | Costume Designers Guild Local 892

Janelle is a Southern California-born mom of one, costume designer and the founder of i CURE NUDITY INC. — and before you ask: the name is exactly what it says. As she once put it: “I am to talent what doctors are to patients. I’m curing nudity. Without me, this movie would be a porn.” That is a woman who knows her worth.

She put in the work! Seven years as an assistant stylist award shows, live performances, tours, music videos, commercials. She said yes. She showed up. She was loyal to the people pulling her up. Then she transitioned into television and film as an assistant costume designer on BET’s The Game. That’s where she fell in love with storytelling.

She describes it the way only someone who has truly found their craft can: “I tell a very colorful story. I don’t care if I’m just telling you about my trip to the grocery store. I am painting the whole picture, no detail left out.” Seventeen years later and she’s still kicking. Still shining bright.

She is a proud member of the Costume Designers Guild, Local 892 the same union that counts Ruth E. Carter among its members. She is in the rooms. She is doing the work. She is building the body of work that precedes the recognition.

Notable credits: Seed of Chucky (2004), The Perfect Match (2016), Thriller (2019), All Rise on OWN (2019–2023), Being Mary Jane, The Game, and more. For her full portfolio: janellecarothers.com or her IMDB.

Connect: @icurenudity · icurenudity@gmail.com · (310) 200-1847 · i CURE NUDITY INC.: @icurenudity on Instagram

Lauren Paige Carothers | Entrepreneur + SHero

Lauren is Janelle’s baby sister of course, she absolutely has little sister rights, doesn’t play about Janelle, and will let you know. But make no mistake: Lauren Paige Carothers is a giant in her own lane.

A proud Clark Atlanta University alum, fashion design and PR, then off to studied fashion business in Milan. Lauren put in the work before the world caught up. She moved to New York straight out of school, landed at Ralph Lauren, built her résumé through Refinery29, Warby Parker, and high-end production houses, and eventually did what every great architect does: she built her own house.

That house is All Worthy People Agency conceived from a passion for more conscious, high-vibration, impactful brand development. And run+gun productions, her full-service production company in operation since 2012. She is the kind of producer who can balance the bottom line and the creative vision simultaneously, and that is a rare gift.

Lauren’s portfolio is unmatched and is as multifaceted and colorful as she is. She directed the Hillman Grad Collegiate Capsule commercial for Lena Waithe’s Hillman Grad Productions the one featuring disability activist Lauren “Lolo” Spencer and Hillman Grad Records artists Davion Farris and Siya. She produced the 2025 Juneteenth Ebony Beach for artist and curator Brick in Santa Monica, California. And she is likely producing something near you right now.

Lauren grew up in southern california, was educated in Atlanta, established her career in New York, and is currently based in Los Angeles building the future with clients and collaborators all over the globe. She is a mother of two. A wife-to-be. A SHE-ro — not because someone handed her a stage, but because she designed one, produced it, and put the right people on it.

Her aesthetic is Black culture captured in essence. It is an aesthetic that says: we exist, we are great, we are celebrating whether you are ready for it or not. Executed quietly. Efficiently. With full intention.

Follow Lauren: @Laurenpaigecreates on Instagram · All Worthy People Agency: @Allworthypeople on Instagram

Two sisters. Two lanes. One family building something worth watching.

That is the blueprint.

History is not only made on the biggest stages. It is built in the rooms nobody’s filming yet.

1 MORE THING | THE ANGLE NOBODY ELSE HAS WRITTEN

Ryan Coogler Has Done This Before

Before Sunday. Before 16 nominations. Before the Dolby Theatre gave him a standing ovation, Ryan Coogler already broke Hollywood’s ceiling.

In 2018, he directed Black Panther; the first Marvel Studios film with a Black director and a predominantly Black cast. It became:

• The highest-grossing film by a Black director in history at the time of its release.

• The highest-grossing superhero film ever in the United States and Canada (until later MCU releases).

• $700 million domestically. $1.35 billion worldwide. The highest-grossing film of all of 2018.

• A film starring Michael B. Jordan as the villain who almost stole the whole movie the same man who walked across the Dolby stage Sunday night and took home his first Oscar.

Here is what nobody else has written: Ryan Coogler now holds both ends of the spectrum.

Seven years ago, he proved that Black stories could dominate the global box office. Sunday night, he proved that Black stories could dominate the award season conversation. Same director. Same collaborator. Same relentless belief in the power of telling our stories at the highest level.

Black Panther didn’t just make money. It imagined a world a technologically advanced African nation that was never colonized, never diminished, never made to feel like its people or culture were inferior. It said: what if they never took it from us?

Sinners asked a different but equally urgent question. Set in 1932 Mississippi a place and time that tried to erase Black music, Black joy, Black people it asked: what happens when something tries to consume Black art and Black art refuses to die?

Two different films. Two different questions. One director who keeps betting on us and keeps being right.

My aunt Nicci said God’s blessings are always bigger than you. His purpose is for a people. Ryan Coogler’s work from Fruitvale Station to Black Panther to Sinners is not just for him. It is not just for Hollywood. It is for every Black child who needed to see something powerful and unapologetically Black on the biggest screen in the world.

Wakanda was fictional. The impact was real.

Mississippi 1932 was history. The Oscar is real.

And none of it none of it happened by accident.

They knew who they were before anyone confirmed it. That’s always been the blueprint.

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IN CLOSING —

Sunday was a confirmation. But confirmation is not the beginning.

The beginning was long ago in a Mississippi living room, in an Oakland rec center, in a New York boardroom, in a juke joint on a Delta road. Greatness doesn’t start with an award. It starts with one person who looks at what you’re made of and says:

Believe them.

I’m Amber K. McClendon. Founder & CEO of Melanin Bliss Media LLC. Healthcare veteran. Independent Creator — Journalist. I’m from South Central Los Angeles, a woman who kept showing up, showed up as herself, every time and kept showing up.

Leatha named me in 1926. I’ve been living up to it ever since.

This is The Melanin Memo The Oscars Edition — Amber 💕

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