Trivia: Born Jo-Issa Rae Diop, Senegalese-American writer, producer and actor Issa Rae adopted her stage name in 2008 after tiring of explaining that her surname is pronounced "Jope." She grew up in predominantly white suburban Maryland with her father, an African pediatrician, her mother, a teacher from Louisiana, and four siblings, but before she reached sixth grade the family moved to an affluent neighborhood of black families in Los Angeles, a transition that cemented her outsider status in both white and black communities.During her senior year at Stanford, this lifetime of fish-out-of-water experiences inspired a Web series called Dorm Diaries. But it also became the basis for the Internet sitcom The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, an overnight YouTube sensation in 2011 that garnered millions of hits and hundreds of thousands of subscribers but still left Rae broke. With nowhere else to turn, she and Tracy Oliver, a fellow 2007 Stanford graduate who was also a producer and costar on the series, launched a successful Kickstarter campaign that assured the show would go on. And go on it did, winning the award for Best Web Show at the 2012 Shorty Awards, which recognizes achievements in social media.Rae has been all over a number of influential up-and-comer lists, including two appearances on Forbes' "30 Under 30," but suffered a minor setback in 2013 when ABC passed on her sitcom with Shonda Rhimes called I Hate LA Dudes, which would have been the first foray into half-hour comedy from the Scandal producer's Shondaland. In February 2015, however, HBO ordered a pilot for Insecure, a project starring Rae that she began developing in 2013 with Larry Wilmore, host of Comedy Central's The Nightly Show, and in the same month, Simon & Schuster published a collection of Rae's essays under the same name as her Awkward Black Girl Web series.

Trivia: Entered a pageant as a favor for a friend; for the talent portion, wrote and delivered her first standup comedy routine. After graduating with her Masters, she lived in Liberia for six months working with an HIV prevention effort. Before being cast in Insecure, she worked as a wedding emcee. Wrote and starred in the virally distributed pilot episode for First Gen, an autobiographical sitcom about a Nigerian woman who abandons med-school in favor of stand-up comedy. Serves as a creative consultant for Beauty and the Baller.

Trivia: As an Air Force brat, grew up relocating in different places with her family.One of her first jobs was working at Blockbuster.Performed at the Tokyo Comedy Store in Tokyo for a year.Worked as a drama teacher in a high school in the Bronx for four years.Joined and worked with the Upright Citizens Brigade before landing a writing job at Saturday Night Live.Named her dog Lloyd Dobler after John Cusack's character in the movie Say Anything... (1989).Her first meeting with Issa Rae, creator of Insecure, was on a video conference call.Volunteers at the Downtown Women's Center, and supports Planned Parenthood, Emily's List, HRC, ACLU, SPLC and RAINN.