Issa Rae kicks off Dillard’s Brainfood Series

By Kendall Lawson
Contributor Writer

Dillard University welcomed actress Issa Rae as their first guest for their 2017-2018 Brain Food public lecture series. A packed crowd of students and fans of Rae’s HBO series “Insecure” filled Dillard’s Lawless Memorial Chapel on Sept. 6. Rae, whose grandparents attended Dillard, gave an hour-long lecture on her critically acclaimed show “Insecure,” and her journey to stardom.

Rae said she took her life experiences as an “awkward Black girl” and incorporated them into the YouTube web series, “The Mis-Adventures of Awkward Black Girl,” which began in 2011, and developed her fan base. Next, she wrote a memoir of the same title that became a New York Times Best Seller that ultimately led to her breakthrough with her show “Insecure,” where she’s the co-creator, co-writer, and lead character.

ISSA RAE

“With every project that I did, I thought that they all would be a hit, but they weren’t,” Rae said. “When the time for ‘Awkward Black Girl’ came around, I said I wasn’t going to focus on making this a hit, but focus on what I wasn’t seeing in the media,” she explained.

“Insecure” was renewed for a third season and has won numerous accolades, including the 2016 African-American Film Critics Association award and the 2017 Black Reel Awards for Television for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series. The show is currently nominated for a 2017 Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Television Series Musical or Comedy.

“The transition to HBO, while it took a while in terms of the scheduling,” Rae said, “I’m impulsive, I would come up with an idea, edit it, and then film it. Sometime down the line, I want to do something different, I’ve grown as a person,” she added.

At the end of her discussion, Rae opened up her talk for questions and over 50 attendees took advantage of the opportunity to delve into Rae’s experiences in Hollywood.

“This is a real coup for Dillard to have Issa Rae, who has one of the hottest shows on television right now,” said Dr. Walter M. Kimbrough, Dillard University’s president. “Her experience producing the show, along with her experience at the New York Film Academy, creates a great learning opportunity for our film students, one of our signature academic programs.”

Rae’s hit comedy-drama series is scheduled to have its second season finale air on Sept. 10 at 10 p.m. Central Standard Time on HBO.

Dillard’s Brain Food series will bring intellectual guests this season to the campus: including Malcolm Nance, a media commentator and author, on Sept. 20, and will feature a performance by The Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, on Oct. 11.

This article originally published in the September 11, 2017 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.