As excited as Meghie is to be part of this project, she admits it’s a lot of pressure. “It’s a tremendous amount of weight because she means so much,” she recently told ESSENCE. “She’s the only at the moment, really. You have to get it right. The Black community can be very scrutinizing. But I’m not new to this. I’m true to this. I’m used to it and it just really fuels me to work hard to make sure we’re digging really, really deep to make sure we’re getting to the soul of Tiana.”

But Meghie loves working in the animated world. “There’s something about animation that is so freeing,” she explains. “It is very exciting to write whatever you want on the page without worrying about a note that says, ‘We can’t afford this.’ It’s pure imagination. You’re not bogged down by real life, real world themes and you can get to the bottom of certain themes and ideas and adventures. I love writing animation, it’s just blue sky.”

Tiana is set to debut in 2023.