Amena Kheshtchin-Kamel hasn’t always been who she seems.
Kheshtchin-Kamel, a long-time Tempe resident, is a woman of many identities — Persian/Egyptian American, lawyer, writer, director, producer, actor.
She graduated a year early from Arizona State University with a bachelor’s degree in filmmaking practices, screenwriting and film production, with a Moeur Award and honors from Barrett, The Honors College.
She went on to graduate from ASU’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, where she founded and produced ASU Law’s “Measured Justice” podcast, and founded and hosted the “Legal-Ease Podcast.”
But for a year in her early 20s, she set aside all of those identities and transformed herself into someone else.
Kheshtchin-Kamel embarked on a yearlong social experiment, legally changing her name to the anglicized moniker Emma Kinsley in an effort to escape stereotyping and to break into Hollywood as a writer and actress.
Eventually, she also changed her appearance and persona to match, becoming a blonde, white woman.
Her time living as Kinsley, the “popular white girl everyone wants to know,” is now chronicled in “My Year as Emma,” a novel written by Kheshtchin-Kamel, published by Dark Horse Books and distributed by Penguin Random House.
It will be available in bookstores and comic shops in March 2025.
“My Year as Emma” focuses on how Kheshtchin-Kamel temporarily sacrificed her heritage and culture to become someone else and further her dreams — and the toll it took on her and her inner circle.
“The role of Emma was my own way of working through and understanding code-switching, which I think is an important topic of discourse for everyone, especially women and marginalized communities,” Kheshtchin-Kamel said.
“It’s a fine line that a lot of us walk between preserving our identities and struggling to adapt to whatever space we find ourselves in or are trying to break into,” Kheshtchin-Kamel said.
“My unorthodox journey actually led me to become more proud of my heritage and culture, ultimately inspiring me to devote myself to a career in writing, as I now believe representation begins on the page.”
The book explores the themes of identity, body positivity, social expectations and trying to fit into a world that often centers on whiteness.
It showcases Kheshtchin-Kamel’s unique perspective as a woman of color, what her journey says about society and the many ways modern professionals must market themselves in a white-centered way.
Among other experiences, the book touches on Kheshtchin-Kamel’s trip to the Cannes Film Festival to see how she would be received among film industry glitterati.
She spent nearly two weeks at the world-famous festival as Emma. Kheshtchin-Kamel networked with actors, producers and independent filmmakers at one of filmdom’s most exciting and glamorous tributes to itself in the French Riviera.
The cover of Tempe author Amena Kheshtchin-Kamel’s upcoming book, “My Year as Emma,” which will be published early next year.
She connected with representatives of production companies, studios and talent agencies, watched a 20th-anniversary screening of “Pulp Fiction” on the beach with director Quentin Tarantino and star Uma Thurman, and attended a panel discussion with actress Jessica Chastain.
Kheshtchin-Kamel made some inroads into the industry as Emma, but uneasiness in abandoning her true identity and feelings of self-sacrifice made her question if it was worth it.
After a year as Emma, she changed back to her given name and came out the other side passionately embracing her mixed-race and multicultural heritage.
“After my unique experience as Emma,” she said, “I ultimately decided I’d rather fail and succeed in life as Amena, my true self, rather than experiencing any success as Emma.”
The book — with cover art by Kheshtchin-Kamel, interior art by comic book artist Giulia Giacomino and lettering by comic book letterer Frank Cvetkovic — is available for preorder from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Hudson Booksellers.
It is already listed as a bestselling new release in the “graphic novel contemporary women,” “graphic novel biography” and “graphic novel educational” categories on Amazon.
“I’m over the moon that Dark Horse and my editor, Megan Walker, gave me the chance to share this universal body positivity and identity story,” Kheshtchin-Kamel said.
Today, Kheshtchin-Kamel is developing a feature film with a triple-A game studio based on game IP, and is an executive producer on a sports biopic film with Anvil Pictures.
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