Cydia Simone Flowers is a Belizean-American multimedia artist, writer, and performer from Chicago, IL.  At just 14 years old, she was a student research volunteer at the University of Pennsylvania's odontology laboratory before developing a passion for filmmaking and acting. Her love of art and science inspired her to study film production and psychology at Howard University, where she developed an intrigue in human ecology, currently a major theme in her work. In every piece, she dares to wonder its impact on human behavior, often utilizing textures in her 2-D work, writing visceral worlds for the screen, or utilizing cameras as portals to discover human essence at its most vulnerable. 

During her undergraduate years, she produced her first experimental docu-short film, Oreo, which utilizes webcams as its main recording source, creating an intimate approach to her coming of age after high school. Post-grad, she studied acting at Yale University's Summer Acting Conservatory before returning home, where she began performing professionally and producing short series for brands with her newly founded production company, FlowerStudio Productions. By 2019, she became a mentee director in Sundance Institute's first Director’s Collab course, where she learned naturalistic filmmaking under Peter Sollett. 

The pandemic and political climate in 2020 was a pivotal point for Cydia's artistry. While navigating race relations during the George Floyd protests, she faced a health event which required significant rest from her film and acting careers. This prompted her to pivot to painting and interior design while recovering. Painting ultimately became a more intimate landscape of storytelling of which she explores her reflections of everyday life and regaining a cultural and spiritual identity, primarily in relation to Black existence in past, present, and future America. Her pieces often utilize recycled fabrics and mixed media which to her represent resiliency and hope. 

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Her intrigue into human ecology, interior design, as well as her personal health journey led her to founding Maison DIA, a health start up focused on creating solutions for managing functional health in the home environment. In 2023, her creative and entrepreneurial ventures were supported by Soho House’s Creative Futures Collective and mHUB Chicago's mPower Black Founders Cohort.

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Currently Cydia is working on her first collection "Black People Used to be Here" as well as developing a new film.