391: Jazmin Jones and Olivia McKayla Ross of Seeking Mavis Beacon

In this week’s episode of the Black Girl Nerds podcast, we welcome filmmakers and e-girl investigators Jazmin Jones and Olivia McKayla Ross of the new documentary Seeking Mavis Beacon.

From feature debut filmmaker Jazmin Jones and their collaborator/associate producer Olivia McKayla Ross, Seeking Mavis Beacon follows the pair as they seek to untangle the mystery of the iconic Mavis Beacon, a predecessor to familiar AI figures such as Siri and Alexa and the face of popular 90s’ educational software Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. Jones and Ross discover that the cover model when the game was created in Silicon Valley in 1986 was a Haitian woman named Renee L’esperance who was last seen in 1994. As they attempt to find her, they conduct a thorough examination of her legacy representing that which taught thousands of people how to type. 

Host: Jamie
Music by: Sammus
Edited by: Jamie Broadnax