Born to parents who sported Afros back in the day, M’Saada Nia was introduced to the entertainment industry as a professional tap dancer. She studied with tap masters Alfred Desio, Fayard Nicholas, Leonard Reed, and Savion Glover, and taught children at Lula Washington Dance Theater. As a member of the Colburn Kids Tap Company, Nia performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC and the Greek Theater, and was the only female dancer in the original Caution: Men at Work-TAP show. On MTV’s Emmy-nominated Road Rules 9, Nia performed death-defying stunts on-camera, badgered the crew about their techniques off-camera, and fell in love with the production process. She enrolled in the cinema program at LA City College to hone her skills as a screenwriter, director, and script doctor. After financing her college education by working as a security guard, she wrote and directed the short film Harambee, an interracial romantic comedy, taking place during a 1991 Kwanzaa celebration. The project is a demo of Nia’s feature screenplay French Fried Love, which she also hopes to direct. She has written episodes for Teen Connection and Homework Hotline for PBS station KLCS-TV, and has provided script coverage for the Organization of Black Screenwriters.