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Side effects of cialis useEARLY LIFE: Malikea (Edwards) Hill, a Native-African American was born in Henderson, NC and raised in Upstate New York, Hill is the eldest of seven children to the late Myrtle D. Edwards–Howard and Rev. Richard H. Edwards, Jr., who was an associate pastor of a Baptist Church. She was raised with strong religious roots and it was in the church where she discovered her singing and writing talent.

EARLY CAREER AND SUCCESS: In her teenage years she captured the attention of the congregation as one of the lead vocalists but she still had a dream and the strong desire to entertain. Relocating as a single parent with her 4 children Jack, Jacqueline, Crystal and Jamal to Southwest Philadelphia in the early 80’s, she became a professional R&B singer. Although, she found much fulfillment in the entertainment field, she sacrificed her love for music to continue raising her children and attain higher education that led to her graduating with an architectural and civil engineering degree. Hill went on to work as a mechanical engineer for the Boeing Company.

LATER CAREER AND CURRENT LIFE: Her social drama, “A Change Gonna Come,” was inspired by a dream she had on the night of January 16, 2009. After sharing her vision that was so vivid with her son, Jamal Hill, an independent movie maker, he then encouraged her to write the script. Soon after, she spent several years of tears and sweat putting pen to paper believing that it was worthwhile to be put on screen. Her motivation for this screenplay comes from a variety of different sources. Socially, she has witnessed many of the situations outlined in the script and also has been through the personal struggles of a single parent and professional businesswoman. Because of her experiences she felt compelled to tell the story.

ASSISTANT WRITER

Walgreens viagra couponBorn in Schenectady, New York, Jamal Hill has always had a deep love for movies and music. His mother was a traveling single parent singer, so he was raised in the entertainment industry. His family moved to Philadelphia in the early 80’s and because of his passion for the arts, he took dance, theatrical and singing lessons. His mother was the quintessential “stage mom” and as he grew older he began to focus on acting. The hustle and grind of audition and reading for a good role never panned out as he would have liked, so he decided, “if you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em”! Hill majored in screenwriting/theater at the Community College of Philadelphia and read every book he could on film. He landed his first job as an assistant to the director Barry Michael Copper who is known for such pieces as New Jack City, Above the Rim and Sugar Hill. To gain more experience, he started writing and directing independent music videos for local Philadelphia artists and two filmmaker friends, Todd Wolfe and Gabe Zapata. All those lessons were starting to pay off as a director.

In 2003, Hill came to the conclusion he wanted to make a full feature. After taking months off to write a screenplay, he finally came up with a completed work that was a good representation of the world he knew as a teenager called “Brotherly Love.” Hill spent a year trying to find financing for the script to no avail. He went back to the drawing board and wrote a less elaborate script with fewer characters that could be shot with no budget, minimal crew and his two friends. Hill’s mother took a small loan out and started production in April 2004 on the movie entitled “Money Power Respect.” Casting local theater actors, he shot the film in eleven days.

He finished editing the movie in two months. After realizing he had a pretty good movie, Hill entered two local film festivals and won the best feature category in both. That winter, he went to Los Angeles, CA to see how the film would hold up with the big boys. He took the film around town, and to his surprise, inked a distribution deal with Code Black Entertainment thru the independent film mogul Jeff Clanagan. Money Power Respect was released in all major outlets on July 4, 2006.

In September of 2006, Money Power Respect was discovered by native Philadelphian and talent agent Charlie “Mack” Austin, a friend and business associate of multi-Grammy Award Winner, Will Smith, of Overbrook Entertainment. Building solid relationships with Smith and Austin, Hill was hired to work on films such as I am Legend, Hancock and Iron Man. Living and working in Los Angeles under the direct guidance of Overbrook Entertainment, Hill released his second film entitled “After Autumn” with Lil Zane Copeland (Dr. Doo Little 2) and Sundy Carter (Boss ’n Up) in 2008.

In 2011, Jamal Hill, Charlie “Mack,” Austin and Todd Wolfe formed a production team filming their first feature film entitled “Streets” starring Meek Mills. Then, followed it up with a Flavor Unit Entertainment (Queen Latifah) production of his first script “Brotherly Love” which released in April 2015.

EDITOR

Side effects of cialis useJacque (Hill) Taillon, M.Ed., Editor, educator, native New Yorker and at the tender age of 7, always had a love for literature. Taillon knew at an early age she wanted to teach, sing, write or do something of the arts. Her love and gift of music led her to sing in church where an anonymous philanthropist supported her by buying a piano and paying for private vocal lessons. At the age 14, she moved to the westside of southwest Philadelphia and again was supported by a private supporter to take courses at the Performing School of Arts in Philadelphia, PA. While singing background vocals and performing studio work for aspiring artists in Philly, she didn’t quite find her place in the music industry, so she went back to her roots and desire to pursue a career in education.

In 2004, Taillon was chosen to enter a master’s program and earned her graduate degree in Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA, taught inclusion and special needs children of moderate disabilities. Soon after in 2006, she accepted the call to the ministry and became a licensed minister of the gospel under the tutelage and direction of Rev. Dr. Howard John Wesley. Under his shepherdship, she blossomed and developed her leadership skills as a Christian educator, disaster relief missionary of Samaritan’s Purse, trained and educated children in suburban and urban cities in the northeast and New England regions. In 2008, she returned to her hometown in Schenectady serving as an associate minister and literacy leader of Each One Reach One, a summer literacy program designed to encourage children to read and love books. Taillon is a passionate educator that believes in inspiring and instructing people of all ages as she is a witness that, “reading and writing can take your spirit, mind and body to higher places than the streets ever could.”

Taillon is a visionary leader with a purpose and plan to develop, as well as organize the blueprint for an early childhood development center which focuses on Christian character, conduct and conversation. As a lifetime learner, she has an objective of earning her Ph.D. in Christian Counseling and a Doctorate in Education. Along with teaching and preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, she has a great love for inspirational music and theatre. As a songstress, she has performed in Love and Happiness with a groundbreaking African-American theatre company, Jelupa Productions, Inc. in New England, as well as, many spiritual, traditional and contemporary choirs including the promotional concert choir for Disney’s Lion King musical in 2010 at Proctor’s Theatre in Schenectady, NY. Currently, she continues to teach, write and serve as an associate minister of Mt. Olivet Missionary Baptist Church in Schenectady, NY where she is predestined to preach soul-winning and socially-conscious messages to build the kingdom of God.

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