Yakira Chambers(1980-2022)

Actress, producer and writer Yakira Chambers grew up on the Southside of Chicago. She graduated from Southern Illinois University with a Bachelor of Science and started her working life in St. Louis as a software quality assurance manager. After completing a Master's Degree in business administration, she moved to Los Angeles to find work in the entertainment industry. Chambers studied the Meisner technique for two years at the Baron Brown Studio in L.A. and then further honed her craft through the Midsummer in Oxford Program at Magdalen College. She made her screen debut in 2007. Five years later, she worked as executive producer on a TV sitcom, M.O. Diaries (2012), in which she also starred as Michelle Obama. She later appeared in several films which addressed social issues. In 2020, she was selected for the Viacom CBS Writers Mentoring Program. This led to Chambers becoming a staff writer and story editor on the spin-off series NCIS: Hawai'i (2021). Tragically, her life was cut short due to acute asphyxia on November 30, 2022. She was aged just 42.