#LeadershipTuesdays: Creating Change...Shonda Rhimes

“Dreams are lovely. But they are just dreams. Fleeting, ephemeral, pretty. But dreams do not come true just because you dream them. It’s hard work that makes things happen. It’s hard work that creates change.” 

--Shonda Rhimes

Image: James White, Shondaland

On Tuesdays, womenatliberty.com presents #LeadershipTuesdays, a platform for a variety of voices and resources to develop, encourage and strengthen women leaders. Today we present the Queen of Thursday night television, the history making showrunner Shonda Lynn Rhimes. 

Shonda Rhimes is an award-winning American television producer, screenwriter and author. At the helm of Shondaland, her production company, she is responsible for #TGIT (Thank God It's Thursday) on the ABC Network and some of its most watched and popular shows on television today. Her Top 10 shows include Grey's Anatomy (starring Ellen Pompeo), Scandal (starring Kerry Washington), and How To Get Away With Murder (starring Viola Davis). She also produced and wrote the hit show Private Practice (starring Kate Walsh), a spin-off of Grey's Anatomy. 

Rhimes is first African American woman to create and executive produce a Top 10 network series (Grey's Anatomy). She recently made headlines when she signed a new multi-year deal with Netflix signalling an end to her 15 year relationship with ABC Television. The deal does not affect her current slate of shows now airing on the network.

In 2015, released her first book, "Year of Yes" and last year she received one of her most historic awards to date. Rhimes was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 2017 and became the third Black woman to receive this honor. Oprah Winfrey and Diahann Carroll were the first and second Black women to receive this high honor before Rhimes. Oprah Winfrey paid tribute to Rhimes at the event calling her "currently the most powerful showrunner in television, period.”

She received her BA at Dartmouth and a MFA from USC. The Illinois native currently resides in Los Angeles, California. For more information on LeadershipTuesdays, go to womenatliberty.com.