Issa Rae

Issa Rae
Born Jo-Issa Rae Diop
(1985-01-12) January 12, 1985
Los Angeles, California U.S.
Nationality Senegalese-American
Other names Joissa Diop
Alma mater Stanford University
Occupation Director
Writer
Actor
Producer
Years active 2011–present
Known for Awkward Black Girl
Insecure
Website IssaRae.com

Jo-Issa "Issa" Rae Diop (born January 12, 1985)[1][2] is an American actress, writer, director, producer and web series creator. She is best known as the creator of the YouTube web series Awkward Black Girl.[3] Since the premiere of Awkward Black Girl, Rae has developed her own YouTube platform where she features various content created by people of color.[4][5] Rae's shows have garnered over 20 million views and over 200,000 subscribers on YouTube.[6]

As of 2016, Rae is the creator, co-writer and star of the HBO series Insecure, which is partially based on Awkward Black Girl.[7][8][9]

Early life

Rae was born in Los Angeles, California.[1] Her father, Dr. Abdoulaye Diop, is a pediatric doctor from Senegal and her mother, Delyna Diop (née Hayward), is a teacher.[10] Rae's parents met in France when they were both in school. She has four siblings. The family lived in Dakar, Senegal[2] for a short period during her childhood.[11] Her father has a medical practice in Inglewood, California.[12]:xiii

As a child, Rae lived in Potomac, Maryland, where she grew up with "things that aren't considered 'black,' like the swim team and street hockey and Passover dinners with Jewish best friends."[13] When she was in sixth grade, her family moved to the Windsor Hills section of Los Angeles where she attended a predominantly black middle school where Rae said she was "berated for 'acting white'" and initially found it difficult to "fit into this 'blackness' I was supposed to be."[14] Rae graduated from King Drew Magnet High School of Medicine and Science, where she started acting.[2] Her parents divorced when she was in high school.[12]:100–102

In 2007, Rae graduated from Stanford University with a major in African and African-American Studies. As a college student, she made music videos, wrote and directed plays, and created a mock reality series called Dorm Diaries for fun. At Stanford, Rae met Tracy Oliver, who helped produce Awkward Black Girl and starred on the show as Nina.[13]

After college, Rae received a theater fellowship at The Public Theater in New York City.[2] Oliver and Rae started taking classes together at the New York Film Academy. Rae worked odd jobs and at one point was struggling to decide between business school and law school, but abandoned both ideas when Awkward Black Girl started taking off in 2011.[10]

Career

Awkward Black Girl

Main article: Awkward Black Girl

Rae's web series Awkward Black Girl premiered on YouTube in 2011. The show follows the life of J (played by Rae) as she interacts with co-workers and love interests who place her in uncomfortable situations. The story is told through first-person narrative as J usually reveals how she feels about her circumstances through voice-over or dream sequence.

The series eventually went viral through word of mouth, blog posts, and social media, resulting in mainstream media coverage and attention.[15][16][17] In an effort to fund the rest of the first season, Issa Rae and producer Tracy Oliver decided to raise money for the series through Kickstarter. On August 11, 2011 they were awarded $56,269 from 1,960 donations and released the rest of season one on Rae's YouTube channel.[18]

Rae eventually partnered up with Pharrell and premiered season two of the series on his YouTube channel, iamOTHER.[19] Rae also began releasing other content on her original channel, predominantly created by and starring people of color.[20]

In 2013, Awkward Black Girl won a Shorty award for Best Web Show.

Rae created Awkward Black Girl because she felt the Hollywood stereotypes of African-American women were limiting and she could not relate to them:

I felt like my voice was missing, and the voices of other people that I really respect and admire and want to see in the mainstream are missing.[10]

"I've always had an issue with the [assumption] that people of color,, and Black people especially, aren't relatable. I know we are."[21]

By using YouTube as her forum, Rae was able to have autonomy of her work since she writes, films, produces, and edits all of her work. Rae's other shows—Ratchet Piece Theater, The "F" Word, Roomieloverfriends, and The Choir, among others—also focus on African-American experiences that are often not portrayed in the mainstream media.

Insecure

Main article: Insecure (TV series)

In 2013, she began working on a comedy series pilot with Larry Wilmore, who in addition to being an actor has a long history of producing and writing television, about the awkward experiences of a contemporary African-American woman, in which she would star, which was eventually titled Insecure.[22] HBO picked up the pilot in early 2015 and it was subsequently greenlit, scheduled for a fall 2016 release.[23]

Writing

The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, Issa Rae’s New York Times best selling memoir hit the shelves February 2015. She chronicles her life through a series of humorous anecdotes. She opens up about her personal struggle with not fitting in, and not being considered black enough at times.

Personal life

Rae's birth name, Jo-Issa, comes from a combination of the names of her grandmothers: Joyce and Isseu. Her middle name, Rae, is after an aunt, who was an artist.[13]

In 2012, Rae was included on the annual Forbes '30 Under 30' list in the entertainment section.[24]

Rae is currently signed with United Talent Agency and 3 Arts Entertainment.

In media

Rae appeared on the cover of Essence magazine’s May 2015 Game Changers issue alongside Shonda Rhimes, Ava DuVernay, Debbie Allen, Mara Brock Akil. Rae expressed her desire for more people of color working in production behind the scenes to make a lasting impact in the television industry.

Filmography

Works and publications

References

  1. 1 2 "Joissa Rae Diop California Birth Index". FamilySearch. 12 January 1985. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Wortham, Jenna (4 August 2015). "The Misadventures of Issa Rae". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  3. ↑ Gopalan, Nisha (28 February 2013). "Issa Rae on Awkward Black Girl, Her Shonda Rhimes Show, and Hating L.A. Guys". Vulture. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
  4. ↑ Kang, Inkoo (7 August 2015). "Issa Rae's Long Road: When Are We Finally Going to Stop Wondering if Women of Color Are "Relatable"?". Indiewire. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  5. ↑ Johnson, Margeaux (1 October 2014). "Issa Rae's Color Creative Calls for TV Diversity". EBONY. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  6. ↑ "YouTube Channel: Issa Rae Productions actingrl112 aka Issa Rae". YouTube. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  7. ↑ Hughes, William (23 June 2016). "Issa Rae is still an Awkward Black Girl in the trailer for HBO's Insecure". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  8. ↑ Jackson, Daren W. (24 June 2016). "Watch: Issa Rae's 'Insecure' Trailer Is Everything 'Awkward Black Girl' Was But Better". Water Cooler Convos. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  9. ↑ Respers France, Lisa (5 July 2016). "Issa Rae's 'Insecure' may already be a hit". CNN. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  10. 1 2 3 Gray, Emma (5 November 2013). "Issa Rae, Creator Of 'Awkward Black Girl', Felt Like Her Voice Was Missing From Pop Culture – So Here's What She Did". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
  11. ↑ Brown, Stacia L. (10 February 2015). "Meet the Black _________". The New Republic. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  12. 1 2 Rae, Issa (2015). The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl. New York, NY: 37 Ink/Atria – Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9781476749051. OCLC 901338241.
  13. 1 2 3 Hua, Vanessa (May 2012). "Awkward Stage: A web sitcom's quirky black heroine is poised for takeoff". Stanford Magazine. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
  14. ↑ Crossley, Hilary (26 July 2011). "5 Questions for Issa Rae on 'Awkward Black Girl'". Essence. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
  15. ↑ Whitfield, Fredricka (8 October 2011). "'Awkward Black Girl' web hit" (video interview). CNN. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  16. ↑ Anderson, Stacy A. (12 September 2011). "Diverse Web series grows through social media". The Philadelphia Tribune. The Associated Press. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  17. ↑ Andrews, Helena (6 July 2011). "Embracing the Awkward, One Webisode at a Time". The Root. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  18. ↑ "Update 1: Update Video: Thank You for Over $40K Raised!". The Misadventures of AWKWARD Black Girl. Kickstarter. 8 August 2011. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  19. ↑ Shannon (15 June 2012). "Pharrell Williams Teams Up With Awkward Black Girl & Launches New Brand". Pink is the New Blog. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  20. ↑ Caramanica, Jon (13 July 2012). "Issa Rae and 'Awkward Black Girl' Are Breaking Ground". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
  21. ↑ Sherman, S. (2015). Issa Rae, "Making The black Experience Relatable". Sun Reporter, 9.
  22. ↑ "Issa Rae & Larry Wilmore To Create 'Non-Prophet' For HBO". Vibe. 6 August 2013. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
  23. ↑ Andreeva, Nellie (15 October 2015). "Issa Rae Comedy 'Insecure' Gets HBO Series Order". Deadline.com. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  24. ↑ "Forbes 30 Under 30". Forbes. 2014. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
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