Imani's profile
Imani Muleyyar is an award-winning multimedia storyteller, educator, and black arts advocate. His art career began while growing up in Baltimore's Pan African movement of the 1980s-90s. He gained notoriety for producing socially conscious music for himself and with many Afrocentric arts collectives in the city. This led Imani to pursue a profession in audio engineering, studying at American University. He then went on to own and operate multiple recording studios, consecutively landing production deals with record labels over the course of five years.
During the downturn of the music industry in the late 2000s, Imani joined the Army Reserves and served in the Iraq war. Upon returning, he shifted careers to video production, acquiring academic degrees in both TV and film and winning several film festivals awards including a Telly Award. He also began competing in combat sports, which eventually led him to become a combat sport videographer. He created the production company Highlight Fights and went on to be one of the top independent combat sport video producers in the country. His productions included live Pay-Per-View events, award winning documentary shorts, and a national public access TV show.
Imani also spent time in academia as a production manager at his alma mater American University. There, he helped build and maintain the updated broadcast journalism program and facility. That’s when Imani developed his passion for teaching while tasked with hosting workshops for both students and staff. Since then, Imani has taught media production, computer literacy, and business administration to groups and individuals of varying ages and backgrounds, both independently and through teaching agencies.
Imani’s production acumen eventually landed him positions as a producer / editor for Fox 45 Baltimore and NBC Sports Washington where he won numerous Emmy Awards for his documentary shorts. Soon after, he was hired by the world’s leading combat sport promotion, the UFC, and won a Cynopsis Sports Media Award in his first year.
Imani returned to his hometown in 2022 to launch his new project, Imani Network, using all his acquired experience to empower the local black arts community. He created a multimedia platform to give these artists access to the tools they need to promote and distribute their art in the ever evolving media landscape. Imani is also building a workforce of media professionals in Baltimore City by teaching free production classes and offering internships and paid job opportunities. Imani ultimately aims to build a sustainable production economy for the black community in Baltimore in an effort to improve their quality of life for years to come.
