Are there too many streaming services? Too much content fighting for our attention? Perhaps. But if a ton of supply means there's more room at the table for stories like Self Made: Inspired By the Life of Madam C.J. Walker to be told on widely watched platforms like Netflix, we're all the better for it. The story of Walker is beyond inspiring, beyond thrilling, and beyond necessary for all of us to know about. Unfortunately, the actual storytelling mechanisms of Self Made move much too bluntly and quickly to make the powerful impact I wish it had …

Let me start by saying that I am absolutely the wrong person to be writing about Netflix's new limited series, Self Made. The story tells the real-life tale of an African-American woman who defied all manner of conventions to become a self-made millionaire through the sale of haircare products for Black women. The closest I've come to understanding any of that very personal and culturally important space is from watching the Oscar-winning short Hair Love, so I leave it to the new trailer for Self-Made to tell the tale way better than I …

Madam C.J. Walker is one of the most quintessentially American figures who ever lived. In a historical time fraught with post-slavery racial biases, sexism, and social regression, Walker built a business dedicated to the underserved market of African-American hair care, and became the first female self-made millionaire in the process. Now, Octavia Spencer is telling her story in a four-part Netflix original series: Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker. And we've got the first look for the series. Spencer, who also produced the series (alongside LeBron James!), stars as …