Rutgers–Newark Students and Alum Bring City Designers’ Story to the Screen

At age 5, Rutgers–Newark graduate Anya Dillard started her own charity, a holiday gift-giving drive for children.

As a high school sophomore, Dillard, who graduated from Rutgers–Newark last year, founded The Next Gen Come Up, a nonprofit that helps young creators explore activism and social entrepreneurship.

By the time she was 20, Dillard had gained national and international attention for her philanthropy and advocacy. She was among Teen Vogue’s 21 Under 21 and featured in CNN, The Washington Post and other outlets. She recently gave a TEDx Talk at Harvard University.

Now, she is a film director whose latest project, Atelier: The Story of BrownMill Company, is a short documentary about the founders of a Newark-based designer brand whose nouveau preppy streetwear has raised its profile through clients that include NBA players and Idris Elba.

The 35-minute film focuses on three young Black entrepreneurs, who a decade ago established BrownMill, located on Halsey Street. In addition to the Rutgers-Newark alumni and students who helped Dillard complete the film, BrownMill’s three founders also have Rutgers ties.

It started as a collaboration between Dillard and her classmates in the Rutgers–Newark Video Production Program and grew into a nationally released short film, supported by a grant of up to $25,000 that Dillard received as a Gucci Changemakers Creative Fellow after first being selected as a Gucci Changemakers Scholar.

If it seems like Dillard has switched gears from activist to auteur, she hasn’t. She views filmmaking as a continuation of her work as a grassroots organizer.

“A common thread for me has always been imagery and the art that I’ve absorbed over the years has massively informed how I see myself and my capabilities,” said Dillard, who majored in journalism and video production.

“For people of color, the media, images and tropes were often overwhelmingly negative. It had a huge impact on how people see their responsibility to create and their ability to create,” said Dillard.

Her potential, and success, as a filmmaker have received widespread recognition.

Last year, Dillard completed a stint with Monkeypaw Productions, where she landed a job as a Culture and Impact intern and became one of the 80 fellows whose relocation to Los Angeles was sponsored by The Academy Gold Rising program.

Dillard’s film, Atelier, uses archival material, mixed-media animation and observational footage to explore themes of brotherhood, Black ownership, and the role art can play in bringing people together.

It also highlights Newark, a city that Dillard believes has too often been defined by stereotypes and distorted, incomplete narratives.

Newark native Justin Pitt-Goodson, BrownMill CEO, is a student at the School of Public Affairs and Administration, which he chose after serving as an advisor to Newark officials on developing the city’s nightlife. He enrolled in Rutgers Business School in 2014 but left to pursue entrepreneurship before returning to Rutgers–Newark last year.

Co-founder Taha Shimou is a Rutgers–New Brunswick alum and Kwaku Agyemang graduated from Rutgers–Camden. The three met as classmates at Newark Arts High School.

Pitt-Goodson credits Rutgers mentors, especially School of Business Professor Jeffrey Robinson, RU-N’s former provost, with providing guidance, resources and support throughout his career. Rutgers alumni support the business, too, he said.

“Rutgers in general, through and through, has been a big part of our story and me individually,” said Pitt-Goodson, who now uses Brownmill’s original flagship storefront, now named The Atelier, as an events space. At present, the company sells BrownMill’s merchandise mostly online.

The company began as a childhood pursuit for Pitt-Goodson, who as a middle-schooler began making and selling colorful bow ties. By 2016, he, BrownMill, which the company’s website describes as “vintage Ralph Lauren, Savile Row tailoring, and a mix of early 2000s streetwear.”

BrownMill represents what can happen when creativity is coupled with a smart business strategy and a company’s commitment to its hometown, said Dillard.

“That’s what we hope the takeaway is,” she said. “No matter how young you are, when you combine passion and purpose, you can have a lot more impact than you know.”

For Dillard, film and video production classes at RU–N deepened her conviction that film could be a powerful medium to widen her reach. In the process, she helped her classmates launch their careers and formed her own company, Jenevesque, which employs several Rutgers–Newark alums.

“We’re excited people are recognizing it as a hotbed for talent,” she said.

Much of Dillard’s film crew was composed of RU–N students and graduates. The collaborators worked together on class projects before Dillard invited them to help create Atelier.

“I don’t know where I’d be without the Rutgers Newark Video Production Department. Even as someone who already had a pretty advanced understanding of filmmaking coming in, I was constantly adapting, being encouraged to think bigger, and found a chosen family of incredible creatives that I wouldn’t know what to do without,’’ said Dillard.

Since then, the team has worked on other projects as well.

“I learned that the best place to learn is with your peers, with your friends. It’s the safest place to learn and make mistakes and grow in your profession,” said Godard Aristil, a third-year Rutgers–Newark student, who was the film’s director of photography.

Although the crew knew the Gucci name would bring attention to the documentary, its members didn’t  anticipate how rapidly the project would grow. After its New York City premiere, and a screening at the Newark Museum of Art this summer, Atelier is scheduled to be screened in Philadelphia, with a February screening at RU-N.

“The level of scale that we’ve been at as a group coming from a class project, I wasn’t expecting that,” said Darion Cotton, the film’s producer, who graduated from RU–N last year. “It’s been such a fast track at breakneck speed.”

Dillard has continued building her network through her own production company, Jenevesque Media, which is derived from her middle name, Jenev, once a source of shame.

“I was embarrassed by it, but I’ve learned to lean into what makes you you,” she said. “It represents finding my authenticity and being unapologetic about where I come from.”

The company produces narrative, nonfiction and experimental work, along with music visuals, commercial projects and live events. It also supports emerging filmmakers.

“I’ve never done anything small scale,” said Dillard. “My idea of starting anything is to jump into the deep end.”

Dillard credits Rutgers–Newark’s Honors Living-Learning Community (HLLC) with giving her the support to manage college while organizing, traveling, and receiving widespread attention for her activism.

The HLLC’s emphasis on cultivating students with a history of community leadership, and working to improve society, was a big draw.

“A lot of the schools I was looking at, when it came to the way that they treated people who were activists, it didn’t align with my goals,” she said. “I had spent most of my life fighting people on the front lines. I didn’t want to feel like I was fighting my administration, my professors, the student body. I didn’t want to carry that.”

Atelier is the culmination of everything Dillard has learned as an activist and artist, she said. Her platform, and her medium, may have changed, but her mission has not.

“As an artist, I feel the same responsibility, but the tools are evolving and changing as I grow,” Dillard said. “My tools have morphed from a picket line and a megaphone into a camera, a storyboard and a script.”