Ava DuVernay has joined in on the conversation surrounding successful Black women opting out of getting married and having kids while still living a full life. Tracee Ellis Ross has become the poster child for that thanks to social media memes created of the actress fitting the “rich auntie” aesthetic, but she is just living her best single, happy life.
"I didn't see enough examples of different versions of how a woman can find happiness and joy and power and sensuality, sexuality, all of that, without it being through the lens of how I'm seen by a man,” she told Harper’s Bazaar. “People are like, 'You're the poster child for being single.' And I was like, 'Great.' But what I would prefer is that I'm the poster child for living my life on my terms. And that there's a version of that for everyone."
Ava is making a conscious effort to do the same. The director got her start in television and film later on in life in comparison to her counterparts and so she’s been more so focused on her career, but she’s now learning that life is more than just work. Ava opened up about it to InStyle.
“I've gotten a bit stagnant in my relationships with people, the way that I've organized my life. We need to keep meeting new people, challenging relationships, moving out of relationships that don't serve us anymore,” she said.
“There's that line people say, ‘No new friends.’ But there can be. I can't mature in my work if I don't open my life a bit more. I didn't have kids by choice, and I'm not married by choice. I was able to embrace my career later in life, in my 30s. So I'm going to do what feels good to me, and I'm going to have fun.”
The Los Angeles native worked as a publicist for many years before she picked up a camera and began to make films at 32 years old.
Self awareness is key.
That's cool. She's rich af too so she's probably not worried about it...
But, kids, to me, are an insurance policy. Caretakers and income supplementors for when I get old.
