Sumayyah Maryam Bailey

Sumayyah Maryam Bailey (born 19th February 1999) is an award-winning, '24-year-old writer, director and artist' , filmmaker and vintage-style content creator. She is the first Ravensbourne University 'graduate to go on to... The University of Cambridge. Bailey is a postgraduate student at Selwyn College, Cambridge. She has featured in Glamour UK, Ravensbourne University London, Evening Standard & The Guinea Pig Magazine.
==Personal Life==
Bailey was born in Edmonton, North London to an English mother and British-Jamaican father, who are both Muslim converts. She spent the first 10 years of her life in East London, but after her parents' divorce she and some of her family moved to Norfolk, UK. In February 2023, she was diagnosed with autism (ASD) and has since been vocal on the importance of the need for discourse around intersectionality, when it comes to race, gender, sexuality and neurodiversity, both in her studies and in her contribution to Glamour UK. She identifies as Muslim and speaks on the duality of theology and philosophy on her social media and in her screenwriting.
During the summer of 2014, Bailey visited The Pet Show in Warwickshire. While there, she met the editor of The Guinea Pig Magazine, who took a photo of them both, for the following issue.
==Education==
Bailey attended Sybourn Primary School and later The Lammas School and Dereham Neatherd High School before moving to Fakenham Academy Norfolk, where she completed her GCSEs. She then went on to do her AS-levels in Media Studies, Film Studies and Textiles at City College Norwich before moving to London to complete her UAL Extended Diploma in Creative Media Production at City & Islington College, located in Holloway, North London.
In October 2018, Bailey won a Wingate Foundation scholarship to study BA (Hons) Digital Film Production at Ravensbourne University, located in North Greenwich, London. In the second year of her undergraduate, she picked the screenwriting and directing fiction specialism pathways, both of which brought about her short film script, All in a Night's Work and her musical short film, How To Not Get Stuff Done. The former of the two got graded a D+, but would later go on to win awards. In the final year of her undergraduate, Bailey majored as a screenwriter and wrote her anti-utopian stoic philosophy feature script, In Pursuit of Seneca's Approval - which she describes as Tom Schulman's Dead Poets Society and George Orwell's 1984 meets Letters From a Stoic. She wrote her dissertation, 1984 VS Brave New World: A Philosophical Examination of the 21st Century British Socio-political Climate alongside her feature, interviewing the likes of Will Self and the Orwell Society. She was supervised by Dr Annabel Dover, PHD. In December 2022, Bailey graduated from Ravensbourne University with a First-class honours.
During the spring of 2022, Bailey won a scholarship to read MPhil in Film & Screen Studies at Selwyn College, The University of Cambridge; the position of which, she took up in October 2022.
==Work==
In July 2017, Bailey placed as one of 15 finalists in Media Trust & The Jack Petchey Foundation's Vlogstar Challenge - in partnership with YouTube and the London Evening Standard. Her finalist vlog was titled 'Who am I?' and is uploaded to her YouTube channel, @SumayBay.
In 2019, during her undergraduate degree, she worked as an assistant production designer for Giovanni Montalvo's The Other Side
In October 2020, Bailey appeared in an online panel discussion titled, Cinemagic Young Filmmaker "Round Table" - Fantastic 2 run by Cinemagic Young Filmmaker Festival, for her short film, How To Not Get Stuff Done, in which shortlisted filmmakers gave their 'insight into the filmmaking process and' revealed 'the inspiration behind their short films.' The film went on to pick up several official selections from festivals such as; White Deer, Flickfair, Lift-off & Cinebooth.
In January and February 2021, her short film script, All in a Night's Work placed as a finalist (in the "Super Short Script" category) and semi-finalist (in the "student screenplay" category) in the Best Script Award - London.
In April 2021, she received 'The Honor Award' from Pure Magic International Film Festival, for her musical short film, How To Not Get Stuff Done.
In May 2021, she shot a short film, for the Wellcome Trust & The University of Essex, centred around chronic pain. The film, titled A Full-time Job, was released on Vimeo in September of the same year
In May of the same year, Bailey was signed to Precious Agency and works as a supporting artist/extra in film and TV. She has appeared in The History Channel's The Toys That Built America 2, Lowkey Films' Kindling, April Snow Films' A Bit of Light, BBH's Getting Back to Burger King online advert series, Maia Films' University of Suffolk We move forward, together internet advert and Diva Creative's Beryl - Made For Sharing online advert.
Since February 2021, she has amassed an audience of 1.4K followers on her "bookstagram" and vintage fashion Instagram account, @sumaybay, where she shares her book recommendations and 40s, 50s, 70s & 80s outfits. In December of the same year, she collaborated with the replica vintage brand Vivien of Holloway and featured in a photoshoot titled '3 Days of Festive Dresses', the photos of which were posted consecutively on the 22nd, 23rd and 24th of December and showcased some of the brand's Christmas range. In May 2022, she collaborated with the vintage style cosmetics brand, Fatale Cosmetics and filmed a vintage "Get ready with me" reel, showcasing the brand's new lipstick shade - Dorothy Fuscia. This was uploaded on the 30th May 2022.
In February 2023, she was featured in Ravensbourne University London's Humans of Ravensbourne article series.
In March 2023, Bailey featured in an article for GLAMOUR UK, titled Why are autistic women more likely to be victims of sexual abuse and violence?, where she spoke about 'navigating dating as an autistic woman'.
Category:1999 births
Category:British people
Category:Alumni of Ravensbourne University London
Category:Writers
Category:Directors
Category:Artists