13-Year-Old ‘Black-ish’ Star Asked for a Pitch Meeting with Jordan Peele and Then This Happened 

Marsai Martin

Marsai Martin plays Diane on “Black-ish.” (Photo by Earl Gibson III/Getty Images)

Many of us may be able to take a lesson or two from young “Black-ish” actress Marsai Martin. The 13-year-old recently met with “Get Out” director Jordan Peele after unapologetically pitching him a project on Twitter.

“I’ve got the perfect idea for a project for us to work on too 😉,” she tweeted in January after Peele congratulated her on starring in and executive producing a film called “Little.”

Peele’s interest was quickly peaked and it seems he acquiesed to the raising star’s bold request. The ‘Get Out’ director and Martin exchanged ideas when she visited his company, Monkeypaw Productions, Tuesday, March 20.

“What a day! Great meeting!” she wrote in a retweet of the post below. Time will tell what fruits will bear from this meeting but Martin has no plans to stop asking for what she wants.

Filmmaker Matthew Cherry who appeared to also be present at the meeting chimed in with his impression of Martin.

The young actress has a penchant for using Twitter to help make her dreams a reality. She tweeted a collage of her with comedian Tiffany Haddish where the two wore some of the same clothing writing, “@TiffanyHaddish I think this is a sign… #possiblefuturecoworkers 🤷🏽‍♀️.”

The post got one Twitter user praising her for her boldness but also lamenting the fact that they couldn’t work up the courage to ask for a raise.

“If you don’t ask for what you want, the answer to your question is already no (because you never asked)… so what is there to be afraid of?” Martin said in the tweet that’s pinned to the top of her Twitter page. “The only possible outcome is a positive one because you already have a ‘no.’ So go get your yes… 🤷🏽‍♀️.”

Democracy needs journalism it can trust.

This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.

For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed independent and reader-funded. We have no corporate owner and no shareholders telling us what to cover or how to cover it. That independence is also our biggest vulnerability: nothing protects it except readers choosing to fund it directly.

Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under in a moment like this, it's rarely the independent, reader-funded ones that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Back to top