#MondayMotivation: Issa Rae is Our Woman of the Week!
By Emily Scott
Every Monday, Culturess will be choosing one woman in pop culture to be our Woman of the Week. These women inspire and empower us to kick ass, take names, fight the good fight, and live our best lives. Today, our Woman of the Week is Issa Rae!
When Issa Rae first had the idea to make a web series about her experiences as an “awkward black girl,” she probably didn’t imagine that it would only be five short years until she had a hit show on HBO. But when “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl” premiered on Youtube in 2011, it was a huge success almost immediately. The web series had no big names, no real budget at first, and no exposure other than by word of mouth. But what made “Awkward Black Girl” so popular was that it represented something that was missing in the mainstream media; a realistic, un-romanticized, un-cool representation of a black woman.
In 2013, Rae told Huffington Post that she started the web series because, “I felt like my voice was missing, and the voices of other people that I really respect and admire and wanna see in the mainstream are missing.” And we definitely agree. The whitewashing of mainstream media is a serious problem. When most of our movies, TV shows, and other culture cater to the white male experience, the general public becomes conditioned to see the experiences of women and minorities as less important or less meaningful.
Insecure, Image via HBO
But people like Rae are starting to change that white male standard. Her new show Insecure, which she created with Larry Wilmore, premiered on HBO this year. It follows the trials of Rae’s character Issa, including confrontations with her white coworkers and issues with her boyfriend. But the central relationship in the show is between Issa and her best friend Molly. Issa and Molly are both black, but they are very different people. They both have rich interior lives and never fall into stereotype. It’s been years, maybe even decades, since we’ve seen a realistic black female friendship like this on mainstream TV.
And the best part is that Insecure is killing the ratings game. It has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is averaging around 3.2 million viewers, which HBO says puts it up there with some of their most popular shows, like Veep and Girls. Which is probably why Insecure has already been renewed for a second season!
From “Awkward Black Girl” to Insecure, Issa Rae has been inspiring us for years. The mainstream media did not represent her experience and voice, so she set about to make something that would. She worked hard, built a career from the ground up, and didn’t give up. She clinched a deal with HBO, home of the white dude prestige drama, and she blew everyone away. Now, she is one of the foremost new voices in the entertainment industry. She is always doing everything in her power to give underrepresented perspectives a seat at the table of American television. And we have a feeling she’ll be doing so for a long, long time.
Thanks for being our #MondayMotivation, Issa Rae! Now get out there and tackle your week like Issa tackles white male nonsense!
Next: 10 Essential Feminist TV Shows to Watch this Fall
Issa Rae’s work is available here:
Insecure: Season 1 just ended, but the entire season is available on HBO Go.
“The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl”: All the episodes of Rae’s wildly popular web series are available on the “Awkward Black Girl” website.
The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl by Issa Rae: Rae’s memoir, with the same title as her web series, can be purchased here on Amazon, or pretty much any other bookstore!