Maleah Joi Moon Is In A Class Of Her Own maleah joi moon, a different world, netflix, streaming, exclusive, digital cover

Moon’s own college experience was a bit different from her character’s. She attended a predominantly white institution, Pace University, in 2020, and dropped out during her sophomore year. The series was shot primarily on the campuses of Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, and Spelman College — all HBCUs that make up the Atlanta University Center (AUC) in Georgia — and 59% of the show's extras were current HBCU students or alumni. Playing Deborah let Moon imagine a path she never got to take herself. “I got to quasi go to an HBCU through Deborah,” she says. “I daydreamed, [thinking], who would I have been if I went there?” She got a small taste of that answer when Reece — a 2026 Howard grad herself, who plays Hazel — brought Moon along to homecoming during her senior year while she was still an active student. “It’s just such a bomb of joy and celebration and presence and Black culture,” Moon says. Moon hopes A Different World will be another source of inspiration for young viewers to enroll at HBCUs — just as the original series did when it aired. Enrollment jumped an estimated 24% between A Different World’s run and the years just after — a spike education researchers and fans alike have long credited to the show's influence. “It reminds you how important it is to introduce something hopeful to the Black television landscape,” Moon says. “That getting your education is cool, becoming yourself is cool, and HBCUs are an excellent place to find yourself and feel safe in your community.”

Nothing prepares you for the fulfillment of your dreams. It never feels how you think it will, and that's a gift, because it ends up deeper than what I'd written in my diary.

Editor: Tina Kolokathis • Designer: Audrey Wu All opinions are 100% our own. © Her Campus Media 2026

aleah Joi Moon loves to sketch. “I used to do it as a kid before settling into singing and acting,” Moon says. It's a hobby she picked up when she was, in her own words, “a geek who loved reading, poetry, art class, and dance.” She pulls together references on Pinterest, and then puts pencil to paper. “Subconsciously, I think I'm trying to alchemize all this incoming energy and put it somewhere that feels good, just for me.” That incoming energy has a name: A Different World — a sequel to the beloved sitcom of the same name that aired in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s — hitting Netflix on Sept. 24. Moon plays Deborah, the uninhibited, headstrong daughter of iconic characters Whitley Gilbert (Jasmine Guy) and Dwayne Wayne (Kadeem Hardison). Creative and artsy in her own right, Deborah enters her freshman year at the legendary (yet fictional) HBCU Hillman College, determined to find her own path outside the shadow of her famous parents. “We get to see a young Black woman stumble through finding herself, instead of doing it the ‘excellent’ way society pressures us toward,” Moon says. The role gave her the opportunity to bring a real piece of herself to the screen. “I am free-spirited — I had my Deborah phase for sure.” She smiles and tucks her hair behind her ear. “She's a mess, and I love that, because I was a mess at one point, and sometimes still am.”

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A Different World is Moon’s first major TV role, but far from her first acting gig. She got her first part when she was 10, playing Dorothy in a school production of The Wizard of Oz in New Jersey. As she was growing up, Moon says, “I’d been praying, watching shows on Broadway with my school, hoping I’d one day walk those stages.” Fast-forward a decade later, and Moon won the 2024 Best Leading Actress Tony Award for originating the role of Ali in Alicia Keys’s Hell’s Kitchen at the age of 21. She then won a 2025 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, thanks to the show’s cast recording. “Nothing prepares you for the fulfillment of your dreams,” she says. “It never feels how you think it will, and that's a gift, because it ends up deeper than what I’d written in my diary.” Unbeknownst to her, playing Ali would lead to Moon fulfilling even more dreams. During the final weeks of her Hell’s Kitchen run in 2025, Debbie Allen — the legendary director and executive producer behind both the original A Different World and the sequel series — came to see the show. Moon met Allen backstage, not knowing that Allen had also invited A Different World producers to see her perform, too. “She later told me she knew [Deborah] was me,” Moon says, still sounding stunned by it. “My brain still can’t comprehend that.” But before the role was hers, there came a chemistry read, where Moon met the five actors who'd become the core next-gen cast alongside her: Cornell Young IV, Alijah Kai, Jordan Aaron Hall, Kennedi Reece, and Chibuikem Uche. “Debbie Allen had us all singing. We busted into this medley, some of us rapping,” Moon says. “The chemistry in the room was amazing — we were in love with each other at first sight.” After their audition, Moon’s future castmates gravitated toward her holding room one by one, unprompted. Casting director Kim Colman had to come in and quiet them down. “Alijah said, ‘Guys, can I tell you something? I think this [group] is it,’” Moon remembers. “We all agreed.” Moon got the official call that the part was hers a few weeks later, as did the rest of the core cast. “It was such a beautiful, full-circle moment.” Moon’s chemistry with the next-gen group only deepened once cameras started rolling. Young — who plays Shaquille, Hillman’s star quarterback and Deborah’s love interest on the show — felt that same strong connection to her on set. “Maleah's an amazing person and an amazing actress. She’s very serious about her work,” he says. “Working across from her was just a joy every day.”

Getting your education is cool, becoming yourself is cool, and HBCUs are an excellent place to find yourself and feel safe in your community.

We're not trying to replace the original. We're trying to use its magnitude to promote hope the way the original did.

Class of Her Own

Nia Berkeley

Nia Berkeley is an HBCU student from Richmond, Virginia, studying marketing and mass communications at Virginia State University. Outside the classroom, Nia is the founder and executive director of Inclusively Inclusive, a nonprofit organization that has led 20+ community initiatives focused on sisterhood, career readiness, mentorship, wellness, and civic engagement for collegiate women of color. As a rising changemaker, she is committed to using storytelling and collaboration to create access, build authentic connections, and empower the next generation to lead boldly.

Words by Nia Berkeley Photographs by Korrin Dering

With that level of real-world impact, carrying A Different World’s legacy wasn’t something Moon took lightly. “I definitely felt pressure at first, because this show is such a statement piece in Black culture and media,” she says. But along the way, that pressure settled into something steadier. “It became stepping into purpose, knowing I'm lucky to be connected to something bigger than me. Something with the opportunity to change people and bring them together.” To longtime fans protective of the original, Moon also offers reassurance: "We're not trying to replace the original. We're trying to use its magnitude to promote hope the way the original did." Throughout her career, Moon has viewed every milestone as one part of a larger, divine design. That conviction fully took root during Hell’s Kitchen, where she learned a deep “understanding of belonging.” She says, “If you're lucky and work hard, and God has it in your plan, you're presented with an opportunity to show up for your dreams.” It's a belief she comes back to again and again: that she's exactly where she's supposed to be. “If I hadn't been where I was with Hell's Kitchen, Debbie Allen wouldn't know who I am, and if she didn't, maybe I wouldn't have gotten this role.” But Moon can’t spend all of her time operating at the frequency of destiny. These days, when Moon isn't working, she's protective of the ordinary: sketching, walking her black goldendoodle Nola, feeding her gray tabby cat Kichiro (both under 5, and both, in her words, “terrible, like children”), and writing original music. But above all, Moon’s trying to enjoy this moment. “When you work so hard at what feels like your purpose, every now and then, you have to look up and say, ‘I’m here,’” she says. “It’s not always about the next step, but exactly where I'm standing.”

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September 2026

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Sept. 23, 2026

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