Mai Perkins is an associate producer, archival researcher, writer, educator, and creative strategist whose work sits at the intersection of documentary filmmaking, education, history, genealogy, and emerging technology. Over the past two decades, she has helped transform complex research into compelling stories for television audiences, classrooms, and public conversations.
Since 2021, Mai has been part of the Emmy-nominated PBS series Finding Your Roots with Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., where she serves as an Associate Producer. Her work includes historical and genealogical research, story development, script collaboration, archival sourcing, and fact-checking for episodes featuring artists, athletes, actors, and cultural leaders. She also served as an archival researcher on the PBS documentary Making Black America: Through the Grapevine and the Emmy-nominated Showtime Sports documentary NYC Point Gods.
Before returning full-time to documentary production, Mai spent three years as the New York Regional Content Leader of Technology for National Heritage Academies, where she designed and delivered professional development for educators, led regional instructional technology initiatives, supported school leadership teams, and helped guide New York schools through the rapid transition to remote learning in 2020.
Education has remained central throughout her career. Mai taught writing, literature, and developmental education for four years as an adjunct professor at the College of Staten Island and Kingsborough Community College (CUNY), helping students strengthen critical thinking, research, and written communication. She continues to develop workshops that encourage learners to see themselves as researchers, storytellers, and historians.
Her writing has appeared in HuffPost, Bust Magazine, Relevant, The New Context, Black-Owned Brooklyn, Shoppe Black, and numerous other publications. She is also the author of The Walking Nerve-Ending, a collection of poems and essays exploring identity, history, and belonging.
Mai holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Howard University, a Master of Arts in International Affairs (Media & Culture) from The New School, and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Sarah Lawrence College. In 2024, she developed and facilitated her Book of Life Workshop at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, helping participants explore personal history through genealogy, archival research, and narrative storytelling.
Today, Mai works with schools, universities, libraries, museums, and cultural organizations to help audiences navigate an age shaped by artificial intelligence, digital archives, and information overload. Through engaging workshops and presentations, she demonstrates how historians, journalists, filmmakers, genealogists, and researchers separate fact from fiction—and why those skills matter now more than ever.
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