Harris soon grew frustrated with the limits of the advertising industry and moved into directing commercials.
[2] Harris established her own commercials company catering to the small business community such as the "Exceptional Women of Color Hair Salon".
Harris took on temp work to pay the bills, writing her feature screenplays in between answering phone calls.
Harris has also taught both screenwriting and film production classes as both a full-time and adjunct professor at New York University Tisch School of the Arts.
[3] Harris wanted to see a young African-American woman's coming-of-age story, from a female perspective, and set out to make it herself, stating that it's important that we see women both in front of and behind the camera.