ISSA RAE

She's come a long way since her days as an awkward YouTube star. The media mogul talks about working with her heroes and the changes she'd like to see in Hollywood.

Issa Rae wakes up at 4 a.m. every day. Being an early riser, she says, is her self-care. "Those couple of hours are the only time that is just mine," Rae explains. Perhaps waking at such an hour is a requirement when you're busy taking over the world.

Born Jo-Issa Rae Diop, the creator/writer/producer/actress/ entrepreneur rose to fame in 2011 with her YouTube series The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl. The show's massive success earned Rae a Shorty Award for Best Web Show, and spawned her hit HBO series Insecure, which aired its fifth and final season last year. This past July, when Rae was nominated for her third Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Emmy for Insecure, it was a meaningful end to that chapter of her life. "It felt really great because our last season aired in December [2021] and I thought that people would forget about it," Rae says. "To get a nod in the last season means a lot."

Now, as she navigates a post-Insecure world, Rae is beginning her self-proclaimed "mogul era." Just this year, she premiered her new series Rap Sh!t and the second season of her reality series Sweet Life: Los Angeles, both of which are on HBO Max and produced by her media production company, Hoorae. She's also appearing in Greta Gerwig's Barbie, slated for release next summer. Her ultimate goal: owning a studio in South L.A. "That has been in the works for quite some time, so that would be like, 'Okay, I've done what I set out to do." But while she works toward that day, her career has already far exceeded her wildest dreams. "[As a kid], I knew I wanted to write, but I definitely did not have a vision of what I'm doing now," Rae says. "I just didn't know what was possible.?"-JULIANA UKIOMOGBE

ON CREATING RAP SH!T