Geffri Maya became a household name when she starred as who plays Simone in the CW series, “All American,” and its new spinoff, “All American: Homecoming.”
The spinoff is set against the backdrop of the HBCU experience at Bringston University, where Black excellence is a way of life.
Maya grew up in Los Angeles and attended Clark Atlanta University, an HBCU. Before finding a home at “All American,” she starred in “Private Practice,” “East of La Brea,” and as Khadijah in “Snowfall.”
Viewers were first introduced to Simone in season 2 of “All American.” Simone was a sophomore. In the spinoff, we will see her transition into her college year.
Maya’s flawless style on the show has not gone unnoticed, and neither have her trendy hair-dos. She recognizes the importance of staying on point.
“Always on point! I can’t stress this enough, the more representation that we believe is important on screen needs to be behind the scenes. It has to be, because at the end of the day, Black hair is too precious,” Maya tells Teen Vogue when asked about her hair.
“We have different textures and there’s a certain way that it needs to be cared for. I’m so grateful that Ryan Burrell joined All American in season three, and then worked the pilot. I’ll never forget, I said, “Ryan, if the show gets picked up, I need you to come and do my hair,” and now he’s our department head! I’m just grateful to be on a show where Black culture is in the forefront and that starts with our hair, our clothes, our makeup and everything.”
HBCUs make up just 3% of the country’s colleges and universities. However, they enroll 10% of all African American students and yield almost 20% of all African American graduates.
“I hope that we just continue to create stories that represent Black people in all of our forms, in all the ways that we exist — from being brown-skinned with straight hair, being brown-skinned with natural curly hair, being dark-skinned with short hair,” she says in a sperate interview with HuffPo. “I just want to create a space artistically where it’s not so geared towards a look or what we think people want to see, but just what exists.”
