Our Story.

MAAC’s Story

In 2014, at a major television network pilot table read, our founder, Azita Ghanizada, was informed she was considered white. A conflict for the show she was just cast in, as they needed to report their diversity hires and she was one of the few. Azita informed them she was from Central Asia, and could luckily be counted as Asian. But her Middle Eastern appearance did not look Asian at first glance, and Azita knew that there was a major blindspot in the hiring and inclusion of people from her part of the world. She immediately went home and began reaching out to see who could help her here, she quickly learned there were no organizations in Hollywood that specifically looked after the best interests of Middle Eastern North African (MENA) performers, and so MAAC was born.

This lack of protection in Hollywood and beyond is directly connected to thee high levels of bigotry, racism, and misunderstanding towards our community. We have never had a MENA Category and we have never been recognized, officially, outside of “being Muslim”. Yet the MENA community is built of diverse cultures, languages, and religious backgrounds which include Sikhs, Christians, Jews, Hindus, Muslims, and many more. Through MAACs advocacy, and the successful inclusion of MENA as a hiring category, we have been tackling an unknown path and building our seat at the table. We actively amplify the MENA experience and lack of inclusion on-screen and in writer’s rooms, through personalized industry outreach, awareness on social media, in the news, educational trainings, and consulting. MAAC is creating historic gains for the MENA community, not just in Hollywood, but all over the world.

In 2023, MAAC has begun to expand its term from MENA or MENASA, to hyphen the term SWANA, (South West Asian North African) which is more inclusive than the US defined “MENA,” and is more reflective of the community of creatives we serve.