African-American comedian Chris Rock may have led the Oscars 2016 as its emcee, but that has not doused any water on the hot issue that is #OscarsSoWhite. The hashtag trended on social media in the past months, after a writer/activist bravely pointed out that this year's crop of nominees for anything "best" in film lacks in minority representation. This person is lawyer and BroadwayBlack.com Managing Editor April Reign.

In an interview with CounterPunch reporter and "Below the Fold" podcaster Dennis Trainor Jr., Reign spilled that the hashtag actually started out as a joke in early 2015. She said, "#OscarsSoWhite they want to touch my hair" in a tweet out of frustration over the lack of diversity in the awards roster that year. She didn't really think people would connect so emotionally with the hashtag and make it go viral.

"The conversation turned into something much more serious," she said.

The hashtag gave birth to thousands of comments on discrimination and racial issues, not just for the Black community but also Latinos, Asians and other minority groups. Some were anchored on humor to make light of things while others took the level of discussion over the line. This eventually convince Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs to announce in January 2016 that the body its pledging to diversify its membership by the year 2020, per the Huffington Post.

While the unexpected campaign was successful, there really isn't much talk about who April Reign is. It is not surprising if people don't even know where the hashtag even started. According to her official website Reign of April, Reign has a 20-year law background but walked away from the legal profession to pursue a career in pursuasive writing and public speaking. Besides BroadwayBlack, she is also the editor-at-large for NU Tribe Magazine. Reign is also an ambassador to Samahope, a group that crowdsources funds for projects geared toward the impoverished worldwide. Currently, Reign has 22,700 followers on Twitter.

With the 88th Academy Awards recently concluded, it appears that the #OscarsSoWhite issue continues. Based on the string of tweets of Reign, she is not only gaining support from strangers worldwide who share her conviction, but is also fending off critics accusing her that the hashtag she started does not cover all minority groups.