Issa Rae

Issa Rae was born Jo-Issa Rae Diop on January 12, 1985 in Los Angeles, California, US. She spent some of her childhood days, along with her four siblings, in Dakar, Senegal, West Africa. Later, her family moved to Inglewood, California, where her father, Dr. Abdoulaye Diop, continued practicing as a pediatrician. Her mother, Delyna Diop, was a teacher.

Issa spent a major part of her early days in Potomac, Maryland. Growing up in Potomac was difficult for Issa as most of her neighbors were associated with activities that Blacks were not a part of. Hence, she felt as if she was a misfit.

Her family then shifted to View Park-Windsor Hills, a posh and opulent neighborhood of American-Africans. There too, she was brushed aside by her schoolmates for behaving like a white girl rather than a typical black girl.

She then returned to California where she attended King/Drew Magnet High School of Medicine and Science. Thanks to her interest in music, she started rapping during her stay in the school. Her ability to rap helped her in making some friends.

Issa then graduated from Stanford University with a major in American-African studies. She wrote, directed and acted in a couple of stage plays during her university days. She also made some music videos. She then enrolled herself at the New York Film Academy.

In 2011, Issa came up with the idea of creating a comedy web-series which gave rise to ‘The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl’. Issa took up multiple roles as that of a writer, director, producer and actor for the comedy series.

She played the lead role of J, a call center employee who has a hard time fitting into her office group. Issa designed the character of J based on her childhood experiences as J faces hatred and discrimination from her colleagues.

The series had a narrative structure where J narrates her experiences. She explains how she hates her colleague Nina who never misses a chance to belittle her in front of others. Like Issa did during her high school days, J too, uses her rapping skills in order to make some friends in her office.

The show was premiered on a YouTube channel, which Issa created in 2011. The second season was also aired on YouTube. The second season of the show received high accolades from critics for its witty content and amazing performances. The show won the Best Web Show award at the 2012 Shorty Awards.

Issa made good use of the social media platform to cater to her audience with different literary and reel works. She also uses her YouTube channel to encourage budding writers and filmmakers, belonging to the minority section of the society.

Black Reel Awards for Television (2017) – Issa received her first award for ‘Insecure’ under the category, Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series.

NAMIC Vision Awards (2017) – She won the award for ‘Insecure’ under the category ‘Best Performance in a Comedy’.