They Had a Dream: What's Yours? Shonda Rhimes

Our featured guest today in honor of Black History Month is Shonda Lynn Rhimes. Rhimes was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1970 and is the youngest of six children. From a very young age, Rhimes became an avid reader and storyteller. After graduating high school, Rhimes attended Dartmouth where she continued to develop her writing creativity, eventually graduating with a degree in English literature. While Rhimes' parents were supportive, they were always concerned she would not make a "real living" off of writing and encouraged her to pursue a more realistic career path. Listening to her parent’s advice, Rhimes began writing copy for an ad agency, which she soon came to realize she hated doing. After she quit her job, she followed her dreams and attended the University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television where she earned her Master’s degree in fine arts.

Proving that following your passion can lead to immense success, Rhimes is most notorious for producing the hit TV drama Grey's Anatomy, alongside her other popular shows Private Practice, Scandal and How to Get Away with Murder. Most famously in Grey's Anatomy, Rhimes is renowned for including a diverse population in her casting, celebrating men and women from all different walks of life, cultural backgrounds, age, and sexual orientation. Because of this, Grey's draws nearly twenty million viewers every Thursday for #TGIT on ABC, standing for "Thank God It's Thursday.” Since Grey’s, Scandal, and How to Get Away with Murder are aired back-to-back, fans can relax in a binge-worthy evening produced by Shondaland. In 2015, Rhimes published Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person, a book that takes her readers through the history of her life and how she has become so successful today, always referencing her characters and acknowledging her love for storytelling.

For more on Shonda Rhimes, click here!

To request The Year of Yes through Interlibrary Loan, click here!

Gianoulis, Tina. "Rhimes, Shonda Lynn." Contemporary Black Biography, edited by Paula Kepos and Derek Jacques, vol. 67, Gale, 2008, pp. 129-131. Gale Virtual Reference Library, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3027700046/GVRL?u=pl2833&sid=GVRL&xid=ecd3148d. Accessed 16 Feb. 2018.