The Evolution of Issa Rae

Issa Rae, born Jo-Issa Rae Diop, was born on January 12, 1985, in Los Angeles, California. Issa is one of five siblings. Her father was a pediatrician and her mother was a teacher.

Issa lived in several places growing up, including Senegal, where her father was born and raised. For two years, her family lived in luxury with a security guard, maids, and a huge home. Unfortunately, that state of bliss quickly ended when her father’s plan to build a hospital in Senegal was destroyed by the government, making him lose a lot of money.

Her family moved back to the United States to Potomac, Maryland, and eventually back to Los Angeles, where her father’s medical career got back on track.

Issa started acting in high school but did not go to college for it. In 2007, Issa graduated from Stanford University with a Bachelor of Arts in African and African American Studies. She founded Blackstage Theater Company at Stanford where she did adaptations of Spike Lee films and also filmed Dorm Diaries about Black life at Stanford.

She then went to try acting with a fellowship at New York’s Public Theater but didn’t like it. She felt it was too “white” and too abstract. However, the experience led her to think more about creating her own space for Black filmmakers.

The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl was a comedy web series that began in 2011 on Youtube about a Black girl who went by “J.”The show follows J who awkwardly navigates the corporate world, relationships, and all of life’s uncomfortable moments. In 2016, it was adapted into HBO’s Insecure.

I Hate L.A. Dudes was sold to ABC’s Shonda Rhimes Shondaland in 2013, but the deal fell through. However, HBO then gave Issa Rae a chance with what we now know as Insecure.

In 2015, Issa wrote and published a book titled The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl based on her hit Youtube series of the same title. The book is full of funny essays about being a Black misfit.

Issa Rae’s most famous work was HBO’s Insecure! Insecure premiered in 2016 following Issa and her best friend Molly’s ways of navigating all of life’s ups and mostly downs. Insecure lasted for five seasons and was nominated for Golden Globes, Critics Choice Awards, BET Awards, and more!

As Insecure was airing, Issa was spending time expanding her producer career by producing and acting in The Photograph (2020), The Lovebirds (2020), Sweet Life: Los Angeles (2021), A Black Lady Sketch Show (2019-), and more.

After the emotional wrap of Insecure, Issa Rae announced that she traveled to France to marry businessman, Louis Diame in 2021. The couple met in college. Issa Rae keeps her personal life as private as possible, feeling like it’s more important for people to know her for her businesses and art than her relationships.

Issa Rae is a businesswoman! In 2014, Issa Rae co-founded the management company, ColorCreative. In 2019, she launched Raedio, a record label, and in 2020 she launched Hoorae, her media production company.

Issa co-owns four Hilltop coffee shops in California. She feels strongly about supporting local businesses by Black people and people of color. In 2018 at her opening of the View Park location she expressed the need for coffee shops saying, “Coffee shops facilitate productivity in so many ways, they facilitate collaboration. I’ve personally have done all my writing in coffee shops. So it always disappointed me that there weren’t any that were black-owned (or) people of color-owned in my neighborhood.”

In 2023, Issa Rae made her return to the big screen, voicing the character Jessica Drew in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and the highly anticipated Barbie movie.

On June 21, 2023, Issa Rae dropped the trailer for her newest reality series, Project Greenlight, a reboot of the original with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon! Issa, Gine Prince-Blythewood, and Kumail Nanjiani serve as mentors to a cast of all-female filmmakers. What’s the prize? Directing a feature film that will air on Max streaming service!