Issa Rae laid the first brick of her empire exactly one decade ago with a melancholy declaration: “I’m awkward and Black.”
The writer/producer/actor didn’t know then, of course, that she was about to revolutionize Hollywood when she put a spotlight on a segment of Black folks who also identified as awkward. Rae, who was born in Los Angeles but raised mostly in Potomac, Maryland, was tired of waiting for a green light from an industry that refused to prioritize Black stories. She was tired of seeing the women competing for Flavor Flav’s love on VH1 be among the only representations of Black women she saw on TV.
So she did something about it.
On Feb. 3, 2011, she uploaded the first episode of “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl” to YouTube. The web series, created by and starring Rae, followed J, a Black woman who finds herself in embarrassingly awkward positions in love, work and life. It ran for two seasons and existed as more than just a show on YouTube. It became the foundation of her Peabody Award-winning show, “Insecure.”