It was our extreme pleasure as Annenberg Ambassadors, in conjunction with the USC Annenberg HBO Diverse Voices Forum, to host comedienne Issa Rae at our school!
Our peers had a slew of questions for the creator of Awkward Black Girl, Insecure and an upcoming 90’s-era series about LA, but my fellow Ambassador Roberto & I were selected to kick off the Q&A! I asked:
Launching your content on YouTube, I can imagine that much of your work was shaped by comments from fans and haters online. Now, as a writer and star of Insecure with more projects and campaigns underway, I’m sure that feedback has quadrupled. How do you filter out the noise about what you should and shouldn’t be doing with your career, and do you feel any kind of representational burden?
A heavily-loaded question that warranted an equally heavy answer! Click below to hear what she had to say about representational burden:
I love that neither Issa nor her show purports to represent all black people, but both manage to reach the young black women I know and affect us in such a visceral way. We find ourselves staring at the screen in disbelief, mouths agape like “We say that all the time! Why is that me? Why is that us?”
I can’t wait to see the third season of Insecure, Issa’s new show, more Black writers rooms, black-led TV shows, Nigerian actresses taking over…am I getting ahead of myself, or getting it right?
Thanks Issa!
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Published by Joy Ofodu
I am currently based in the SF Bay Area and work at Instagram as a Marketing Coordinator.
I’m a proud alumna of the University of Southern California c/o 2018 (B.A. Communication, Minors in Marketing and Spanish). As a Trustee Renaissance Scholar at USC, (Communication, Marketing, Spanish) I researched consumer behavior and culture theory, gave tours and shot red carpets. For three years, I served as Communications Coordinator of the USC African American Cinema Society. In Fall 2015, I performed research on the underrepresentation of women and racial groups in entertainment as part of USC Annenberg’s Media, Diversity & Social Change Initiative. This study, #CARD2016, was covered by nearly 100 outlets, including BBC, NPR, AP, TIME, Fortune and EW.
As a professional entertainment freelancer, I have spoken through brands such as Facebook, Star Wars/Lucasfilm, thredUP and the NAACP Image Awards. My work has been featured in Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly (1) (2), Refinery 29, Afropunk (1) (2), Twitter’s Trending Moments, Blavity, StarWars.com and more.
I’m also a portrait photographer and love the red carpet scene: I get to interact with high-profile professionals in Los Angeles, including directors, producers, actors and CEOS! I’m proud to have a blog that has international viewership and I keep my thumb on all things entertainment. View all posts by Joy Ofodu
