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Millicent Shelton
Having already made her career as a prolific director of music videos, in the mid-2000s Millicent Shelton turned her attention to television directing. She went on to become one of the most successful TV directors of the decade, directing multiple episodes of "90210" (The CW 2008-2013), "Men of a Certain Age" (TNT 2009-2011), and "Everybody Hates Chris" (UPN/The CW 2005-09), while also becoming the first African-American woman to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing of a Comedy Series. She may have started out her career in the music world, but by the 2010s Millicent Shelton had already established herself as one of the most important female directors of her generation.