Brooklyn-born writer/director/producer Nicole Asher (formerly Nicole Jefferson) got her first taste of filmmaking in UCLA’s graduate film directing program. At UCLA, Asher wrote, produced, and directed three short films, The Dotted Line, Party Over Here, and Buenas Noches. All three shorts have won numerous awards and have screened in film festivals worldwide.

Asher was a staff writer on the Nickelodeon sitcom Taina, and has developed television and films projects for MTV, Nickelodeon Movies, and Spike Lee’s 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks. Asher served as story producer on The Next Episode, a hip-hop reality show from Showtime. She has written episodes for the animated children’s program ToddWorld, on Discovery Kids, and most recently has co-written the feature film Strangers in Paris with Kasi Lemmons, which Ms. Lemmons is attached to direct.