Issa Rae (born Jo-Issa Rae Diop)
Senegalese-American
Director + Writer + Actress + Producer
Website: issarae.com
Youtube: issa rae
Instagram: @issarae
Best known as the creator of the hit YouTube series, The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, Senegalese-American Issa Rae is the daughter of a Senegalese medical doctor (father) and an African-American teacher from Louisiana (mother). And although Issa was born in Los Angeles California, her family moved around a lot during her childhood – to Potomac, Maryland then to her father’s homeland of Senegal (in Dakar), and finally resettling in Los Angeles by the time Issa was in the sixth grade. From being one of the few African-American girls in her elementary school in Potomac to being the only American girl in her elementary school in Senegal, Issa’s dual nationality would make her feel like an outsider in the black community. This way of life ultimately influenced her worldview, and would turn into a blessing and theme for her career in entertainment.
Issa received what she calls her “pinnacle black experience” while attending King/Drew Magnet High School of Medicine and Science in South Los Angeles. The school was predominately Black and Latino, and gave Issa her first full immersion in mainstream American black culture. In addition to being inspired by black movies and TV shows set in Los Angeles, such as: Boyz N The Hood, Love and Basketball, Moesha and Girlfriends, King/Drew’s Drama Department would also be a place for inspiration, and fuel Issa's desire to take acting more seriously. These years would lead her to major in African and African-American studies at Stanford University, where she continued acting and directing. By her senior year, she wrote Dorm Diaries, a low-budget web reality series about student life at Stanford. Issa purposely used all black characters, and posted the series to Facebook, where it caught on like wildfire and spread to other college campuses.
After graduating Stanford in 2007, Issa received a fellowship at the public theater in New York. Her original plan was to pitch Dorm Diaries to MTV or bet, but the unexpected happened – thieves broke in to her apartment and stole all her equipment and original tapes of film. Issa would give New York one more year and eventually moved back to Los Angeles to live with her parents. During this time in LA, Issa loved watching TV hit comedies such as curb your enthusiasm and The Office, but hated the fact that they included little to no black people. This feeling inspired her to put into action an idea that she sat on for two years. So with a small camera and editing skills, Issa called on friends to shoot the first episode of The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl – the name stemmed from when she lived in New York and experienced awkward encounters with new people at events. In 2011, the show launched on YouTube and instantly went viral, giving Issa mainstream media coverage and attention. And after just two seasons (of 12 episodes each), Issa was named a forbes 30 under 30 in entertainment and won the Shorty Award for ‘Best Web Show’!
In 2013, Issa’s management company paired her with Larry Wilmore, an industry writer, actor and producer, to work on a comedy series that would be partially based on The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, and eventually titled it insecure. By early 2015, HBO picked up the pilot, which eventually premiered on October 9, 2016. This achievement marks one for both Issa and HBO, as this is the first show in HBO history to be co-created by and starring a black woman!
Fun fact: Issa is the founder of Color Creative – an organization that helps TV writers of color get the tools to succeed in Hollywood.