A Brooklyn native is paying homage to women in history who have paved the way for others through her art.

Melissa Sutherland-Moss is highlighting these trailblazers during Women's History Month in her First Lady Series.

"The First Lady Series celebrates Black women across the globe, but also places an importance on storytelling and the preservation of Black culture," Sutherland-Moss says. "So it pays homage to Black women across the globe, specifically women who have paved the way for us, and just really retelling their stories."

Retelling these women's stories is the main focus behind her art. Sutherland-Moss handpicks and places a gem around their portrait to make a mandala effect to portray luxury and elegance.

Sutherland-Moss has been working on the series for eight months and already has three pieces of original art on exhibition at the Eli Center of Contemporary Art in New Haven.

"My favorite piece right now is a collage of my aunt," Sutherland-Moss says. "Although she is not iconic or in a textbook she is a significant part in the first lady series."

Sutherland-Moss says her aunt paved the way for her family, and that's what the First Lady Series is about.

Sutherland-Moss also shares the importance behind the pieces so that the trailblazing women that she highlights are always remembered.

"For Women's History Month it was very important to me to amplify women's voices and to highlight stories so that other people can be inspired," she says.

One of the iconic women she highlights is Shirley Chisholm, native of Brooklyn and says she would like to continue to pay tribute to other iconic women from other cities in the nation.