She Ready Foundation’s 2026 Summer Cohort Delivers a Powerful Debut with Time’s Up.Film Screening

The lights dimmed inside The Miracle Theatre on Friday, August 28, 2026, and for the next several hours, a room full of industry professionals, mentors, family, and community supporters watched something rare unfold: a group of youth impacted by foster care, known as Transitional Aged Youth (TAY), telling their own story, on their own terms, in a film they built from the ground up.

The occasion was the She Ready Foundation’s Summer Internship Program Film Screening, an evening that showcased the culmination of a 12-week, hands-on filmmaking journey for a group of TAY transitioning out of the foster care system. The featured film, Time’s Up., was created by Fostering Creations, a production company formed by this year’s cohort of interns, and is a thriller comedy that follows four teens in a group home who break into a forbidden room beneath the house, only to come face to face with haunting manifestations of their deepest wounds.

She Ready Foundation 2026 Summer Cohort

Photo by Arnold Turner/Eclipse Content

Sheen Magazine was on the scene to capture the night, and the energy in the room made clear this was more than a screening. It was a declaration.

A Mission Rooted in Purpose

The She Ready Foundation was founded by actor, comedian, and philanthropist Tiffany Haddish, and is led by President Dr. Thyonne Gordon, a Life & Business Coach, Author, and Nonprofit Executive. The foundation exists as a voice for youth who were impacted by the foster care system and who have too often suffered in silence. It is built on Haddish’s belief that every child removed from their parents deserves a suitcase, a safe place to lay their head, and a platform to follow their dreams.

L-R Dr. Thyonne Gordon (Pres. of SRF) & Tiffany Haddish (Founder of SRF)

Photo by Arnold Turner/Eclipse Content

Through collaborative partnerships, the foundation works to turn that belief into action. Its Summer Internship Program is a paid, hands-on opportunity designed for TAY in the Greater Los Angeles area, ages 18 to 30, who are enrolled in college or a certificate program by Fall 2026 and passionate about a future in entertainment. Running from June through August, the internship immerses participants in every side of production, from behind the camera to center stage.

L-R Sonya Marchand & Yaslynn “Canvas” Thomas 

Photo Courtesy of SRF 

This marked the second year that Sonya Marchand, Executive Producer and Co-Founder of P413 Productions, returned to serve as Intern Facilitator, guiding this year’s cohort from concept to premiere. She also curated a power list of mentors and partners to guide this year’s cohort from concept to completion.

L-R Sonya Marchand, Dr. Gordon

The Night Belonged to the Interns

This year’s program kicked off with Lisa Nichols and her Motivating the Teen Spirit crew providing a container of a safe space, and everything else followed her lead.

Time’s Up. was written, produced, and performed entirely by this year’s cohort, and the screening included a special appearance by Tiffany Haddish herself, who came out to celebrate the cohort and also moderated the post-premiere panel discussion.

The cast and crew of Time’s Up. included:

From set design to sound engineering to sitting in the director’s chair, these young creatives touched every stage of production, proof of the kind of full-circle mentorship the She Ready Foundation set out to provide. Billy and Kyshawna served the production as PAs supporting the cohort, rather than as official interns.

This year’s wardrobe was sponsored by Oscar and Emmy Award winning designers and stylists, who capped off the night with a surprise: gifting the interns their set pieces following the screening.

The Mentors Who Made It Possible

Behind every great cohort is a team of industry professionals willing to show up, week after week, to teach, coach, and invest in the next generation of filmmakers and changemakers. This year’s mentors volunteered their time and expertise across every discipline of production:

Their collective investment of time and talent gave these interns something invaluable: real, working knowledge of the industry, delivered by people who have lived it.

Honorable Mentions

The evening’s success was also made possible through the generosity and partnership of several community organizations, including:

First Entertainment Credit Union

Faithful Central Bible Church

Black Design Collective & Linda Jones

Lisa Nichols and Motivating Teen Masses

Black Design Collective

L-R: Deborah Lee, Angela Dean, TH, Deborah Evans Vincent, Patty Malkin, Kevan Hall, Linda Jones

A Platform Built on Belief

What made Time’s Up. resonate beyond its thriller-comedy premise was the truth underneath it. These are TAY who have navigated the foster care system, and they used the tools of filmmaking to process wounds, tell a story, and claim a platform that too often is not offered to them at all.

The She Ready Foundation’s Summer Internship Program did exactly what it set out to do: it gave this year’s cohort a suitcase full of skills, a safe space to create, and a stage to be seen.

Courtesy of She Ready Foundation

Sheen Magazine will continue to follow the She Ready Foundation as it prepares for its next cohort. For more on the organization’s mission and how to support its work, follow the She Ready Foundation’s official channels.