This Weeks Star Spotlight focuses on actor, writer and producer Issa Rae, born January 12, 1985. She hails
from Potomac, Maryland but calls Southern California home. She’s a Stanford University alum and the
daughter of a successful doctor. Her resume screams smart visionary with an eye for specifics leaving no
room for reversing her vision - even if it means declining offers from networks.
She’s currently signed to UTA, meanwhile trying relentlessly to conceptualize her ideas in hopes of getting
picked up by a major television network.
She grew up going to an all-white school in Maryland until her family relocated to Los Angeles where she
ended up in an all black school. She was known as a black girl who talked and acted white which totally
contradicted the typical black girl stereotypes that she was “supposed to” fall under. Because of her early
childhood experiences a visionary was born.
Rae went on to create an online comedy series called Awkward Black Girl which received an award for
best web show and has reached over 20 million views on You Tube. She’s made the Forbes 30 under 30
Entertainment list leaving her wondering why her comedy web series was so successful on YouTube but
not as successful in trying to transition to TV. She’s not seeing eye-to-eye with network execs and her
pitches are constantly being modified and her ideas become completely reversed from the origin and
conception of what she’s trying to offer mainstream television.
Awkward Black Girl is based on what it felt like to be the only black girl in Maryland and then to transition
to a black community where she was ridiculed for not being black enough. Those experiences and
feelings manifested into her ideas for possible TV shows and many web series ideas.
The basic focus is on stereotypes in the black community that target women and shed a light on
behaviors that she can’t relate to. She’s like a white girl trapped in a black girl’s body. This has given her
the podium to voice all the things that “she should be” that she’s actually not. The Misadventures of
Awkward Black Girl was her best-selling memoir expressing that for her - black television was a connection
to black culture, colloquial speech and tradition, as she was only acquainted with white vernacular.
She’s had complications trying to pitch to different networks like HBO and ABC, coming close to working
with Chris Rock and even Shonda Rhimes but their direction was different.
Networks want seasoned directors and producers. The objective is to create something the network
deems as substantial which will increase the chances of being picked up and that’s where Rae fell into
the rookie category. The complexity associated with white Hollywood executives is a hardship especially
when you’re trying to give black women a different voice other than, loud, angry and stereotypical.
My hope is that Issa Rae gives us something distinctive, something Hollywood hasn’t seen yet. I’m
counting on her to break down barriers and construct a new trademark in media… because we’re long
overdue and we deserve it. On behalf of myself and the HumorMill Magazine we hope to see more of Issa
Rae and her comedic and clever storytelling. But in the meantime I’ll continue to admire her reluctance
to compromise her vision.