Year of Yes
She’s the creator and producer of some of the most groundbreaking and audacious shows on television today. Her iconic characters live boldly and speak their minds. So who would suspect that Shonda Rhimes is an introvert? That she hired a publicist so she could avoid public appearances? That she suffered panic attacks before media interviews?
With three children at home and three hit television shows, it was easy for Shonda to say she was simply too busy. But in truth, she was also afraid. And then, over Thanksgiving dinner, her sister muttered something that was both a wake up and a call to arms: You never say yes to anything. Shonda knew she had to embrace the challenge: for one year, she would say YES to everything that scared her.
This poignant, intimate, and hilarious memoir explores Shonda’s life before her Year of Yes—from her nerdy, book-loving childhood to her devotion to creating television characters who reflected the world she saw around her. The book chronicles her life after her Year of Yes had begun—when Shonda forced herself out of the house and onto the stage; when she learned to explore, empower, applaud, and love her truest self. Yes.
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About the Author
SHONDA RHIMES
CEO, content creator, producer and author
Shonda Rhimes is an award-winning television creator, producer and author. She is also the CEO of Shondaland, the global media company that encompasses brand partnerships, merchandise, theatrical and streaming content and a digital division.
In 2017, Rhimes shifted the entertainment industry’s business model when she left network television and brokered an unprecedented agreement for Shondaland to produce streaming content exclusively in partnership with Netflix. “Bridgerton,” Shondaland’s first scripted series with the streamer, has become a worldwide franchise with seasons 1 and 2 of the show currently holding the top spots among English language programming for Netflix. In addition to her work on Bridgerton, Rhimes scripted the limited series “Inventing Anna” based on the popular New York Magazine article about the fake German heiress, Anna Delvey. Rhimes is also the executive producer of “Dance Dreams: Hot Chocolate Nutcracker,” a documentary highlighting the dance school created by legendary choreographer Debbie Allen, as well as the writer and executive producer of the upcoming “Bridgerton” spin-off series “Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story.”
Rhimes is the first woman to create three television dramas that have achieved the 100 episode milestone. Those shows, “Grey's Anatomy,” the longest-running medical drama in history, its spinoff “Private Practice,” and the groundbreaking series “Scandal” for ABC, changed the face of television by proving that series which feature characters of color are more financially powerful in terms of advertising dollars and audiences than all white series. This business model is now the norm for all of network TV. Shondaland continued to make history with “How to Get Away with Murder” for which star Viola Davis became the first black woman to receive a Best Actress in a Drama Emmy. For five TV seasons, Shondaland shows occupied ABC’s entire Thursday night schedule, creating a powerful brand well-known to fans and advertisers as TGIT.
Rhimes is the recipient of numerous awards including the Peabody Award, career achievement awards from the Writers Guild of America, Producers Guild of America and Director’s Guild of America, several AFI Awards for Television Program of the Year and NAACP Image Awards. She has also received honors from Planned Parenthood, Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD and The Feminist Majority as well as the Harvard Medal. She has been included on the TIME 100 list of most influential people three times as well as Fortune Magazines “50 Most Powerful Women in Business.” In 2018, Rhimes was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.