Brooklyn’s Tadia Toussaint’s Emmy nod underscores her knack for elevating marginalized voices in NYC

Brooklyn-born filmmaker and multi-hyphenate creative Tadia Toussaint snagged a nomination at the 67th Annual Emmy Awards for her 19-minute documentary tackling housing insecurity in New York City. But for Toussaint, the project is just one part of her mission to spotlight systemic issues and underrepresented voices through storytelling. 

Toussaint, a producer at BRIC TV in Brooklyn—a network dedicated to community-focused storytelling and elevating marginalized voices—collaborated with her documentary team on housing insecurity, with five members creating films on the topic, two of whom also earned Emmy nominations alongside Toussaint for her summer 2023 release that she produced, edited, and directed. Over the past decade, she has produced more than 20 short documentaries centered on social justice.

After over ten months of researching housing issues in New York, Toussaint uncovered details she hadn’t fully understood before. Initially planned as a five-minute film to make the topic more accessible to people, the documentary expanded to attempt to answer many questions regarding the city’s failure to ensure equitable housing and interrogate the fact that people of color make up the majority of shelter residents.

Her goal was to raise awareness and inspire change within the housing system. Toussaint interviewed politicians and industry experts, some of whom have already used her film to support legislative efforts. 

“The math ain’t mathing, and that’s essentially what I discovered,” Toussaint said. For Toussaint, the real question now surrounding NYC’s housing crisis is, “Who’s going to fix the problem?”

Toussaint began her career as a writer at The Haitian Times over 10 years ago, reporting on the community by leveraging her connections with creatives and sharing stories she found while expanding her role in the community. Her first piece of reporting was covering the breakup of the popular Haitian compas band Carimi, coverage she revisited ten years later to write about their reunion. 

“At my core, I’m an artist,” Toussaint said, reflecting on the passion that fuels the many projects she has undertaken over the years. A music artist as well, she describes herself as a social justice advocate and artivist. 

Music is what first drew her into the world of NYC art & culture and community building. She recently directed music videos for artists Stacy Barthe and Alan Cave, while quietly creating and putting out her own music under the name, TADIA.

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