Issa Rae Discusses Creating Her Own Lane and "Awkward Black Girl" with Janet Mock

Pop culture expert Janet Mock sits down with Issa Rae, the mind behind the book and web series “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl,” to talk about black voices in pop culture, Rae’s influences, her bad dancing, and much, much more.


Issa spoke to Janet about the major influence 90s television had on her:

Growing up in the 90s made me feel like I could be a part of that. Seeing so many different characters like Fredi from "A Different World," Sinclaire, [and] Queen Latifah's character Khadijah made me want to be a part of that and made me feel like I could. And when the Millennium hit and we disappeared, I felt kind of hopeless in a way.

She went on to discuss why she began to create independently. She told Mock, "I tried to break in traditionally, and I was always told that there wasn't an audience for it because the content that I was writing was too specific in a way."

Watch the entire interview below.

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Kimberly Foster is the founder and editor of For Harriet. Email or Follow @KimberlyNFoster

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