Alana Mayo

Alana Mayo is a film executive, producer, and president of Orion Pictures. She graduated from Columbia University in 2006 with a double major in English and film studies. At Columbia, she studied under professor Richard Peña and interned for Oscar-nominated director Lee Daniels. She also interned for independent filmmakers such as Tribeca Film Festival and Warrington Hudlin during her time in New York City.

She was promoted to Vice President of Production at Paramount Pictures, where she worked on movies including A Quiet Place, Annihilation, The Big Short, Fences, Selma, and 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi. In 2020, she was tapped by MGM to relaunch its Orion Pictures label with a focus on underrepresented voices.

Mayo also served as executive producer of gen:LOCK while working as head of production at Outlier Society Productions. She was included in the 2022 Fast Company Queer 50 list.

Mayo is a 2022 Henry Crown Fellow in the Aspen Institute.

Personal life In 2017, Mayo became engaged to actress Lena Waithe. Mayo said she met Waithe as a writer and said in 2019 that she hoped to work with her on a project. In 2018, at the Essence Black Women in Hollywood Awards, Waithe expressed her love for Mayo. They married in November 2019 in San Francisco. In November 2020, Mayo filed for divorce from Waithe; the single status of both was restored on May 24, 2021, with agreement for spousal support, and dividing up of property and other assets.