Ava Duvernay has taken her directing skills and racial barrier-breaking-moves to the ice cream industry. She’s teamed up with Ben & Jerry’s for her own flavor, making her the first Black woman to grace the brand’s pints.
“There’s no women of color overall [on Ben & Jerry’s pints],” she tells People. “And so they understood that that’s something that they wanted to change, and I’m happy that I was able to be involved in being a part of that change.”
“I’m not taking it too seriously, but I do think that it’s important to walk through doors that have not been opened. And it’s not an accomplishment because someone has closed the door and then opened it. It is an action that needs to be taken,” she continues. “I’m glad that they’ve done it.”
Ava’s flavor, Lights! Caramel! Action!, consists of vanilla ice cream, salted caramel, graham cracker swirls and pieces of chocolate chip cookie dough — ingredients she chose “because I love them and I eat them in real life.”
As for the name of the flavor, it stems from her continuous desire to make change. “When I thought of [the name], of ‘action’ — that’s what we’re asking people to take,” Ava explains. “Whether it’s you’re deciding what you want to consume in the way of ice cream, how you feel when you walk out of a film and actually taking action … The whole word, ‘action,’ and the idea of it, is a big one for me in my life. Social action, social justice and ice cream.”
Dairy and non-dairy versions of Ava’s ice cream flavor will start shipping nationwide in January 2023. Proceeds will go to her nonprofit, ARRAY Alliance, which “looks at creating equitable systems in the entertainment industry.”
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