Actress, writer, and producer Issa Rae rose to fame with her hit web series The Misadventures of an Awkward Black Girl. Next, she secured her place in the spotlight as star and creator of Insecure. Now, she has added to her resumé her first appearance on SNL, as host on October 17th.
With an impressive list of achievements and many hats, Issa Rae is determined to keep creating and improving. “As far as legacy is concerned, I have so much to do,” she tells The Guardian, “…I’m still walking, I’m still paying my dues, in a way I’m not mad at. I want to earn being here.”
Already, she has been nominated for multiple Emmy’s and Golden Globe Awards. Additionally, she has won the Black Reel Awards two years in a row, as well as a BET Award for Best Actress in her show Insecure.
Isaa Rae seeks to show Black women as they are, not as Hollywood defines them
Issa Rae began her career by creating shows that speak to her own life experiences as a Black woman in the US, since her days as an undergrad at Stanford. Her first show, Dorm Diaries, looked at Black student life at the university. Another YouTube show called Fly Guys Present the “F” Word featured her brother as one of a crew of aspiring rappers.
However, Issa Rae’s blast into the mainstream came with the success of The Mis-Adventures of an Awkward Black Girl. The show focuses on the life of J, a young Black professional. Rae created the character with a determination to show not the Hollywood stereotypes cast upon Black women (like “sassy” or “angry”), but instead the quirky, funny, and eponymously awkward personality of an real woman.
- The first episode of “Awkward Black Girl” packs a lot of laughs in a few minutes
Recently, Issa Rae’s time and energy have focused on the hit show Insecure. This project just aired its fourth season on HBO, with fans clamoring for longer episodes. Rae plays the lead character, also named Issa, and explains that the show treats “the complexities of ‘blackness’ and the reality that you can’t escape being black.”
She further explains that “we are just trying to convey that people of color are relatable…this is about regular people living life.”
Bouncing around Senegal, LA, and Maryland leads to an “Awkward Black Girl”
Daughter of pediatrician Abdoulaye Diop and teacher Delyna Diop, Issa Rae was born Jo-Issa Rae Diop. This name, Jo-Issa, combines the names of both of her grandmothers, Joyce and Isseu. Meanwhile her middle name, Rae, she shares with an aunt. She grew up between LA, Dakar, and Potomac, Maryland.
She recalls feeling especially alienated and awkward when she moved from Maryland to LA. “Being a young adolescent is hard enough,” Issa Rae writes. “Being black is hard enough. But I had awkwardness in the mix too. Yet somehow in Senegal this awkwardness got lost in translation.”
In Dakar, she felt more free “to be herself” and to belong, from the way she looked to the relationships she had with her extended family so far from her home.
Issa Rae tends to be private about her personal life. Nevertheless, one of the few things she has spoken out about is her engagement to Senegalese businessman Louis Diame. The two have been seen together for more than a decade now.
Issa Rae’s SNL appearance features diverse, hilarious skits, and an honest monologue
Issa Rae’s appearance of Saturday Night Live on Saturday, October 17th, was a long-awaited event for the artist. In fact, she originally planned to host the episode in March before the coronavirus hit.
In her opening monologue, she jokes about her awkwardness, how she handles Twitter hate, and how the quarantine has been going for her.
Watch the full SNL episode here.
