Amena Kheshtchin-Kamel hasn’t always been what she seems.
A woman of many identities — Persian/Egyptian American, lawyer, writer, director, producer, actor — she graduated a year early from Arizona State University with a bachelor’s degree in filmmaking practices, screenwriting and film production, with a Moeur Award and honors from Barrett, The Honors College. She then went on to graduate from ASU’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, where she founded and produced ASU Law’s “Measured Justice” podcast, and founded and hosted the “Legal-Ease Podcast.”
Today, the multitalented Kheshtchin-Kamel is represented by Hollywood management company 3 Arts Entertainment (which represents the likes of Tina Fey, Mindy Kaling and Issa Rae, to name a few), is currently developing a feature film with a triple-A game studio based on game IP, and is an executive producer on a sports biopic film with Anvil Pictures.
But for a one-year period in her early 20s, she transformed herself into someone else completely.
In an effort to escape stereotyping and break into Hollywood as a writer and actress, Kheshtchin-Kamel embarked on a yearlong social experiment, legally changing her name to the anglicized moniker Emma Kinsley. Eventually, she also changed her appearance and persona to match, becoming a blonde, white woman.
“The role of Emma was my own way of working through and understanding code-switching, which I think is an important topic of discourse for everyone, especially women and marginalized communities,” Kheshtchin-Kamel said.
Her time living as Kinsley, the “popular white girl everyone wants to know,” is now chronicled in “My Year as Emma,” a graphic novel written by Kheshtchin-Kamel and published by Dark Horse Books (and distributed by Penguin Random House), that will be available in bookstores and comic shops in March 2025.
“I’m over the moon that Dark Horse and my editor Megan Walker gave me the chance to share this universal body positivity and identity story,” Kheshtchin-Kamel said.
The book — with cover art by Kheshtchin-Kamel, interior art by comic book artist Giulia Giacomino and lettering by comic book letterer Frank Cvetkovic — is currently available for preorder from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Hudson Booksellers. It is already listed as a bestselling new release for the “graphic novel contemporary women,” “graphic novel biography” and “graphic novel educational” categories on Amazon.
“My Year as Emma” focuses on how Kheshtchin-Kamel temporarily sacrificed her heritage and culture to become someone else and further her dreams — and the toll it took on her and her inner circle.
“It’s a fine line that a lot of us walk between preserving our identities and struggling to adapt to whatever space we find ourselves in or are trying to break into,” Kheshtchin-Kamel said.
The book explores the themes of identity, body positivity, social expectations and trying to fit into a world that often centers on whiteness, and showcases Kheshtchin-Kamel’s unique perspective as a passing woman of color, what her journey says about society and the many ways modern professionals must market themselves in a white-centered way.
Among other experiences, the book touches on Kheshtchin-Kamel’s trip to the Cannes Film Festival to see how she would be received among film industry glitterati. She spent nearly two weeks at the world-famous festival. As Emma, Kheshtchin-Kamel networked with actors, producers and independent filmmakers at one of filmdom’s most exciting and glamorous honorings of itself in the French Riviera.
She connected with representatives of production companies, studios and talent agencies, watched a 20th anniversary screening of “Pulp Fiction” — a film that won the 1994 Palme d’Or award at the Cannes Film Festival — on the beach with director Quentin Tarantino and star Uma Thurman, and attended a panel discussion with actress Jessica Chastain.
Kheshtchin-Kamel made some inroads into the industry as Emma, but uneasiness in abandoning her true identity and feelings of self-sacrifice made her question if it was all worth it. Eventually, after a year as Emma, she came out the other side passionately embracing her mixed-race and multicultural heritage.
“After my unique experience as Emma,” she said, “I ultimately decided I’d rather fail and succeed in life as Amena, my true self, rather than experiencing any success as Emma.”
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