MEAGAN GOOD GRACES "OF THE ESSENCE" FOR FIRST SOLO ESSENCE COVER

MEAGAN GOOD GRACES "OF THE ESSENCE" FOR FIRST SOLO ESSENCE COVER ESSENCE Communications, Inc., the leading media, technology, and commerce company serving Black women and communities unveiled their second March “Of the Essence” cover star, 'Harlem' actress, Meagan Good. In her first solo ESSENCE cover, Meagan Good gets sentimental about the importance of this cover in her career, being an underestimated actress, and being misunderstood. ESSENCE recently launched the bi-weekly online cover story series, “Of The Essence,” with the goal of continuing to tell culturally relevant stories as told by today’s influential Black voices. Meagan Good on… Being underestimated as an actress “I take it as a challenge. I can still change people’s minds about me, and I don’t look at that as a bad thing. I look at that as a purpose thing.” Training for a year and a half before auditioning for Shazam! “Black girls, we don't get, ‘Let's hire her now and put her in the gym with a trainer and get her where she needs to be.’ You don't get to get there and figure it out. You've got to come already ready.” Her divorce “It's nothing that I would have ever chosen, and when I realized that it was happening, I was devastated. I was like, ‘This is me, Lord. I did everything that I could do to the best of my ability. I don't understand why I did all these things, and then this is my end result.’” Being misunderstood “I think people are starting to get who I am. I think for a long time they didn't. And I had to get to a place where I stopped caring in order for me to walk into the place where people are like, "No, I actually ger her.” Gabrielle Union advocating for her role in Deliver Us From Eva “After we were done rehearsing, she went to the head of Sony Screen Gems and was like, ‘I love this girl. She's great. You guys need to hire her.’ And from that relationship alone, I did You Got Served, D.E.B.S., Stomp the Yard, Think Like a Man, and Think Like a Man Too. I've done more movies with Screen Gems than I've done with any other studio.” Credits Words by Brande Victorian Photographed by Tayo Kuku Styled by Michy Foster Hair by Jorge Monroy using Knesko Nails by Brooklynn Rhayne Set Designers: Alame Awoyemi and Arthur Ndoumbe Photography Assistant: Byron Nickleberry Digitech: Oscar Torres Styling Assistant: Tarese Douglas Production Coordinators: Alaura Wong and Gabriel Bruce Shot at Solar Studios Photography Direction by Michael Quinn Production by The Morrison Group