Issa Rae
Issa Rae
Issa Raeis an American actress and writer. She is best known as the creator of the YouTube web series Awkward Black Girl. Since the premiere of Awkward Black Girl, Rae has developed her own YouTube platform where she features various content created by people of color...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionYouTube Star
Date of Birth12 January 1985
CountryUnited States of America
acceptable black brands everybody failed hair humor name pressed spoke time wore
Who I was was not acceptable to black L.A. youth: the way I spoke and my sense of humor. Everybody else had relaxers and pressed hair. I wore my hair in an Afro puff. Nappy. The way I dressed. It was all about name brands at the time in L.A. I had no idea. All those things, I failed miserably at.
mainstream people
There's so many, 'no, black people aren't like that' barriers in mainstream media.
form legitimate people series willing
People are willing to support and watch web series as a legitimate form of entertainment.
black fun meant poke
Respectfully, 'Awkward Black Girl' was never meant to be politically correct. We poke fun at ignorance.
attention bring content curate filmmakers presence web
I'm transitioning to television and film, but ultimately, I want to have a stronger presence on the web and be able to curate the content that I want to see. To bring attention to other filmmakers and writers.
realistic stanford web
My first web series, 'Dorm Diaries,' was a realistic mockumentary about what it was like to be black at Stanford University. I'm black and I went to Stanford. Boom. Easy.
convinced episode jewish love mainstream media people scene watch
Mainstream media has convinced people that black people aren't relatable. So when a Jewish person comes up to me and is all, 'Oh man, I love that one scene from Episode 3, I watch it over and over again,' I'm so happy. Because that's what I want.
class cool funny jokes love loved people students
I used to love being the class clown. I loved to make jokes and make people laugh. There was a set of students who would find it funny. But the cool students were like, 'Eeew!'
black mainstream media people watch white women
I don't think the mainstream media understands people of color are multidimensional. For some reason, there's an idea that only white people are relatable. I don't think it's necessarily racist. But it's odd, because the people who watch the most television are black women, so we should be represented in more ways.
besides feels humor looking men needs people seeing seem slowly tired tyler type
Every black film feels like it's Tyler Perry, and that just needs to stop. But people seem to slowly be looking for what else is out there - 'Is there something else besides this type of humor?' 'I'm tired of seeing men in dresses.'
blackness blacks choices choosing clearly considered fact folk joining known life love questioned swim vegetarian
As a teenager, my blackness was also questioned by some of the life choices I made that weren't considered to be 'black' choices. For example, joining the swim team when it is a known fact that 'black folk don't swim'; or choosing to become a vegetarian when blacks clearly love chicken.
grateful hot recognized super time
Every time I'm recognized in public, I'm super grateful and appreciative, but I also get hot and nervous.
broad definition limited seemingly trying
The very definition of 'blackness' is as broad as that of 'whiteness,' yet we're seemingly always trying to find a specific, limited definition.
confined limited mainstream people portrayal
People are tired of mainstream media's limited and confined portrayal of people of color.