If you are the first African-American woman to receive the best director award at the Sundance Film Festival, you’d expect phone calls for opportunities to be numerous. That wasn’t the case for former marketing executive, filmmaker and 2012 Best Director recipient Ava DuVernay, however.

Upon returning to Los Angeles from the festival in Utah, offers were few and far between. But, unlike the lack of recognition she received from Hollywood, all eyes were on the self-taught filmmaker Monday afternoon at BET Networks’ Dorothy Height Luncheon, a part of their annual Leading Women Defined conference, when she received the 2012 Butterfly Award, which highlights entrepreneurs and leaders in the Black community.

“Some people love to read; some people love to sing; I love film,” she told the audience of African-American women executives, lawyers and leaders who gathered for the three-day event.

DuVernay, 39, is behind hits such as the 2008 hip hop documentary This Is the Life and the Hurricane Katrina documentary entitled Faith Through the Storm.

In an heart-felt closing, the filmmaker said she is glad to prove doubters of her career wrong and that she hopes to further advance the success of the Black film industry. 

Stay tuned to BET.com/lwd for more coverage on the conference.

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(Photo: Larry Busacca/Getty Images)