Salem is an Ethiopian American filmmaker and community organizer based in Los Angeles. Born in Washington DC to immigrants, and raised in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia during her adolescence, being an outsider was her norm. Her journey to film began while she studying premed at American University. There, she stumbled into a cinema class to meet her elective requirements, and by the end of the year, she had dropped out to recalibrate her trajectory. In the interim, she began working at the Philips Collection as a museum assistant. Amongst the Cezannes, Renoirs, O'Keefe's and Picassos, her apetite for a career in the arts grew. Here, her desire to create safe spaces for Black artists began when she realized there were very little artists from the African Diaspora whose works were on display in the galleries where she spent her days.
In 2013, Salem enrolled in VCU's cinema program, where again, the works of Black filmmakers seemed to evade her. In her senior year, she spearheaded one of the first screenings of a Black film in the program's cinematheque series: John Singleton's Boyz N The Hood. She graduated in 2016 with a double major in Cinema and International Studies with a concentration in social justice. Her career began in New York where she worked in production for VICE prior to moving to Los Angeles. Since then, Salem has worked with clients such as VFILES, Betsey Johnson, We The Culture, XTR, WB, HBO, Hoorae and Netflix.
In 2022, Salem launched her production company, Cushy Films, which specializes in short-form content rooted in Black and female driven narratives.
As a director, her work examines how culture and migration shape identity within the African Diaspora, while celebrating our diversity by exalting our oneness through visual storytelling.
Her most recent projects include God is A Black Woman, and Processing.
