Mover & Shaker

She’s got the beat. Meet the Rwandan refugee–turned–choreographer to the stars: This is SHERRIE SILVER.

- Emily Zemler

Sherrie Silver rushes into a coffee shop in the West Norwood neighborhood of London, hair flying wildly around her face, offering an apology and a breathless hug for being late. One can’t help but forgive the charming 24-year-old choreographer, who hasn’t spent three nights in the same place since bursting onto the global scene last summer as the dance mastermind behind the explosive, racially charged music video “This Is America” for Childish Gambino (actor Donald Glover’s musical alter ego). She showed up for her InStyle shoot straight off a plane from New Zealand, where she had performed with Glover at his experimental Pharos festival, and is leaving the next day to join him for meetings in Los Angeles. So what’s their connection? “Working with Donald allows me to be weird,” says Silver. “As you can probably tell, I’m weird, but I like being different because that’s how you innovate.”

That carefree vibe is evident in Silver’s spirited dance videos that she’s filmed in over 34 countries and that continue to attract millions of views to her YouTube channel. Now other stars, like Rita Ora, with whom she worked on the Victoria’s Secret show, and brands such as Whole Foods, Nike, Target, and Chobani are also calling. And though she can’t confirm it, we’re pretty sure we recognized some of her moves in “Guava Island,” a new video co-starring Rihanna that Glover teased at Pharos. “It’s just all catching up,” Silver says sighing, settling into her chair as her iPhone repeatedly buzzes with alerts and texts. “I can actually feel it.”