Dana “Selah” Elam is a native of Detroit MI, who started her journey as a writer at the age of 13 with hopes to pursue her passion. She unveiled her talent and love of poetry July 16th 2005 on stage, with the TruEssence poetry series and hasn’t turned back.Selah is regarded as one of the “realist” underrated poets of Detroit MI, and also well known for her “food for thought” approach with each poem she births to life. Humbly, she seeks to provide strength for those who are weak and a voice for those who can’t find the words to fight for truth. After proudly becoming the Treasurer of the Black Ink Poetry Collective, Dana’s journey in the poetry community provided the growth she needed to elevate to the next level.
Selah was a part of the Black Ink “Bare Soul” poetry series. She also solo featured at Sweet Epiphany’s Boundless Xpression poetry series and has great appreciation for that opportunity. She participated on the winning team for the Neo Minds, Men Vs Women poetry slam, featured on the Underrated Writers show and in the Selah Vs Selah David battle.
In 2010 Dana was given the opportunity to become the Directors Assistant in the Comedic stage play “Breaking The Leg” because of her ability to pay close attention to detail. Under the direction of Heather Jay Henderson, “Breaking The Leg” was a great success and soon praised in the “Michigan Front Page” newspaper!
Dana was able to use her “artistic eye” to help make ones dream a perfectly beautiful reality.
Once given the chance to spread her wings in 2011, she worked as the 1st Director’s Assistant under the direction of Eric Von Scott, a very influential Director of Arts. Eric helped to correctly, shape and mode Dana’s love for film after being behind the scenes and onset of Local Artist, K-Holley’s music video, “In Your Stereo”. With such a positive experience and dedicated Director of Photography Jonathan Haggen, Selah went on to write and direct multiple skit’s entitled, “Love Games”, “Trompeur”, “Street Survival 1”, “Street Survival 2” "Delusional Donna" and her up and coming 7 episode webseries, "Side Piece". Elam, Produced\Directed and created “The Monologues of a Poet” I and II.
Dana was able to take her show to ATL to share and introduce the third installment of M.O.A.P. Dana, wrote “Love Casualties” in the 48 hour film project and also wrote and co-directed “Journey” for the channel 4 film contest. She also filmed the very dramatic short film, “The Final Hour” with Director of Photography, Clifford Johnson.This woman on the rise is destined for greatness, as she builds her own stepping stones, one script at a time.