Beaver Reflections:
When I started in 7th grade, we were an all-girls school and that gave us a sisterhood of empowerment. I love that campus. I loved that time in my life. I wasn’t the cool kid. I was the one who loved the whole class. I can actually remember every name of every student in my class. I can quite literally remember their faces. To this day I have a giant 6’x6’ painting I did my senior year at Beaver in my home in Boston. My son was named, in part, after my 9th grade history teacher, Ann Grayson. I have gone back for every single five-year reunion since I graduated in 1975. I have flown in from London, Los Angeles, and film locations up in Canada. I’ve even flown in from my home in Mexico. Who does that to go to a one-day reunion? This year was very sad for me because Covid hit and we had to cancel. I’m hoping that we fudge it somehow because I don’t want to wait until I’m much older to come to the next one. The one time I tried to fudge it at Beaver — I hadn’t had a chance to read one of the Shakespeare plays and I read the CliffsNote — I remember tap dancing brilliantly in the class, thinking I was just incredible. The teacher, Miss EYELETS? said, “So, were those CliffsNotes good? You tap dance well. Now go read the book.” The best teacher I ever had was Miss Baker. I had her in 7th grade. She held us to a standard that competed with Exeter, Andover, and any other school you could name. I’ve had many failures in life and, luckily enough, a whole lot more successes. When I think back and realize who I became, I learned how to do it at Beaver.

What is #happeningnow in your life:
I knew from a very early age where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do, and I feel like I’m still just beginning. I’ll probably feel like I’m still just beginning at 80. I went to Harvard and majored in constitutional law and government. My plan was to go to law school and become an agent. I was the one who was going to make things happen. I went out to LA and, even with the Harvard diploma, I was being offered a position on a desk as a secretary. When I say that out loud, “I think, geez it’s the 1930s and 1940.” But this is the 1980s. This isn’t that long ago. But it never occurred to me that I wouldn’t eventually break through. I got my first job at 20th Century Fox as Director of Television, Movies, and Miniseries. I was at Fox for a while then I got a tremendous opportunity to be vice president of Motown at age 25, and I helped create and launch Motown Productions. We did the huge, award-winning mini-series Lonesome Dove, and a movie called Happy Endings, and several others. I ended up creating the Boston Film Group. I’ve worked for every one of the big studios. I created My Two Dads. There were years where I wasn’t successful and I kept doing one-hour dramas and one- and two-hour movies. The biggest one was G.I. Jane. I continued writing and producing and my husband took over a big company in Europe and I agreed to go to London. Silver Lake, the number one private equity firm in the world for technology, allowed me to have offices to develop a brand new streaming service. We’re about to launch that so that’s incredibly cool — we’ll either be billionaires or we’re going to fall flat on our faces. I’ve spent 15 years as one of the highest paid script doctors in Hollywood. I’m still reaching out for the next goal, the next creative explosion.

My philanthropic life is just as active. For the last several years I’ve been the Prime Minister’s ambassador for the film, television, and global digital industries in London. I traveled with Prince William to China to speak on behalf of the UK. I’ve lectured all over the world about disruptive television and social media and the future of culture. I worked for 12 years with the Governor’s Council on homeless youth in California. In London I was on the board for Centrepoint, Prince William’s prime charity for homeless youth. I’m on the board of AMFAR, the American Federation for AIDS Research. I chair the NXP Foundation which provides fellowships for women in STEM. We’ve just launched the Danielle Alexandra Center for Social Enterprise and Entrepreneurship at Texas University.

I have my son and the gift of this child has made my whole life. My son holds my heart every minute of every day.

“I truly believe that talent wins out in the end, if you get the door open. Getting the door open is the secret, not the talent.”

– Danielle Alexandra ’75

Advice to current Beaver Students:
If you can remember one thing, remember to tell a story. Leave them raptured with your story