Cheryl Boone Isaacs

Cheryl Boone Isaacs (born 1949) is an American film marketing and public relations executive. She represented the Public Relations Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), known for its annual Academy Awards (Oscars), on the AMPAS Board of Governors for 21 years, until 2013. On July 30, 2013 she was elected as the 35th president of AMPAS and on August 11, 2015 she was re-elected. Boone Isaacs was the first African American to hold this office, and the third woman (after Bette Davis and Fay Kanin). On November 16, 2021, it was announced that Boone Isaacs would serve as Founding Director of the Sidney Poitier New American Film School at Arizona State University's Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, effective January 1, 2022.

Early life Boone Isaacs was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, to father, postal worker Ashley Boone, Sr., and a homemaker mother. Her family was middle class and she grew up near Springfield College until her family moved to the Sixteen Acres neighborhood of Springfield. She is the youngest of four children, with two older brothers: Ashley Jr. and Richard; and an older sister, Velma.

In 1967 Boone Isaacs graduated from Springfield Central High School, known at that time as Classical High School. In 1971, she graduated from Whittier College with a degree in political science. During college she spent time in a study abroad program in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Boone Isaacs married Stanley Isaacs who is of English-Jewish descent. They live and work in the greater Los Angeles area.

Career

After college, Boone Isaacs worked as a flight attendant for Pan Am based out of San Francisco. At the age of 25, she ended up following her older brother Ashley Boone, Jr.

Publicity work In 1977, Boone Isaacs began working in publicity at Columbia Pictures. Her first job was publicizing the Steven Spielberg film Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Boone Isaacs started her own company, called CBI Enterprises, Inc., where she worked on publicity for films that included Best Picture winners The King's Speech and The Artist. and the predominance of white men among its membership. Her efforts also included strengthening AMPAS mentorship programs, improving the student version of the Academy Awards, and enhancing the organization's scientific and technical council.

At the 2015 Governors Awards, Boone Isaacs launched A2020, an Academy initiative focused on increasing diversity in terms of age, gender, race, national origin, and perspective. The initiative included a five-year plan addressing industry practices and hiring. Honorary Oscar-winner Spike Lee praised Boone Isaacs for her efforts to promote diversity in Hollywood.

Honors 2013: Black Entertainment Sports Lawyers Association (BESLA) 2013: Essence Magazine's Trailblazer Award 2014: NAACP Image Awards Hall of Fame 2014: Chapman University Dodge College of Film and Media Arts O.L. Halsell Filmmaker-in-Residence

Personal life Boone Isaacs is married to film producer, director and writer Stanley Isaacs and lives in Los Angeles. They have a son, Cooper Boone Isaacs.