Leilah Weinraub facts for kids

Leilah Weinraub, born in 1979, is an American filmmaker and artist. She is also known for being the former chief executive officer of the fashion brand Hood By Air. In 2018, she received a special award from the Sundance Institute for her work in nonfiction filmmaking.

About Leilah Weinraub

Leilah Weinraub was born in Los Angeles, California. Her mother was a textile designer from Compton. Her father was a pediatrician from Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Early Life and Education

Weinraub spent one year at an agricultural high school in Israel. After that, she returned to the United States. She later attended Antioch College. She also studied film at Bard College.

Leilah Weinraub's Career

In 1998, Weinraub met film director Tony Kaye. She was working at a boutique in Los Angeles at the time. She helped Kaye with his film project called Lake of Fire. In return, he helped pay for her college tuition at Antioch.

The Film Shakedown

In 2002, when she was 23 years old, Weinraub started filming Shakedown. This was a documentary project in the Mid-City area of Los Angeles. Over six years, she filmed more than 400 hours of video.

The finished documentary film, Shakedown, was shown for the first time in 2018. It premiered at the Berlinale film festival. Since then, the film has been shown at many art places and film festivals.

Some of these places include the Tate in London and MoMA PS1 in New York. It was also shown at the True/False Film Festival in Missouri. A shorter version of the film was part of the 2017 Whitney Biennial art show.

Working with Hood by Air

In 2012, Weinraub began working with the fashion brand Hood By Air. This brand was well-known and praised in the fashion world. She eventually became the chief executive officer of the company.

She stayed in this important role until the brand took a break in 2017. Weinraub was careful about the brand's image. She did not want too many celebrity endorsements. She also kept the company private from outside investors.