Amy Sherald is a portraitist best known for her portrait paintings that address social justice, as well as her choice of subjects, which are drawn from outside of the art historical narrative. Her work examines personal identity as a response to political, social, and cultural expectation.

Sherald was the first black woman artist to make an official presidential portrait at to be displayed at National Portrait Gallery. She was chosen by the Gallery to create the official portrait of First Lady Michelle Obama.

She received her MFA in Painting from Maryland Institute College of Art (2004) and BA in Painting from Clark-Atlanta University (1997) and was a Spelman College International Artist-in-Residence in Portobelo, Panama (1997). In 2016, Sherald was the first woman to win the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition grand prize.

Artists, Literary Painting, Black Heritage, Black History Month, Empowerment, Influential Women,