The (Mis)Adventures of Issa Rae

Issa Rae is the creator of the beloved and critically acclaimed YouTube Series "The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl," in which she stars as J, a hilariously honest—and, yes, awkward—young woman dealing with the trials and tribulations of everyday life. On campus this weekend for a conference at Harvard Law School, she chatted with Flyby about the importance of embracing the awkward, from stop signs to higher education.

Flyby: How much of J's experiences [on the show] come from your own personal experience?

Issa Rae: A lot of J's experiences haven't happened to me except the poor awkward moments like the stop sign… all the awkward moments have happened to at some point in my life. But her life is not my life. She handles things in a way that I wouldn't.

Flyby: Do you think you're similar to J?

IR: Yeah… I'm nicer than she is. She has the worst thoughts in life, but she's an extension of me. She thinks things that sometimes I think, but out loud. She's 30 to 40 percent me, it varies. It depends on the day.

Flyby: What's the most awkward thing that's ever happened to you?

IR: It's everyday in life. I think sixth grade defines my awkwardness. We moved from Maryland to LA, and in Maryland I had all these interracial friends and we were all black girls and I was used to that. Then I moved to a predominantly black neighborhood in LA, and they hated me because I wore my hair naturally and I had this weird sense of humour to them, and I was just super goofy. Everything I did was like, "I want to be black, too! I'm black, guys!" Looking back on it, it's very embarrassing.

Flyby: There are a lot of awkward people at Harvard. Do you have any advice for them?

IR: I would say embrace it. At Stanford there were definitely like, hella awkward people but if you just embrace it and know who you are… the worst thing you can do is try to hide it. I would say get comfortable with your awkwardness.

Flyby: Why do you think Awkward Black Girl has been so popular? What do you think it takes to make a YouTube video go viral?

IR: I think it was good timing. I think specifically because there's a lead female of color, and at the time on television there wasn't. She's relatable, she goes through things that everybody goes through; everybody's been uncomfortable, everybody's been awkward at some point. I think that's the reason it's become so popular. I think to go viral you have to tap into something that's universal and that people can look at and go, "That's so me!" or, "That's so my friend!" People want to see themselves depicted in the characters. Or it has to be a cat video.

Flyby: We know you left Stanford [where Rae received a B.A.] for a time to go to the New York Film Academy. How did you find your time at college helpful to your craft? Do you have advice for college students who have a similar passion for the arts but aren't really finding the outlets for it at their current colleges, or aren’t fitting it in with their studies?

IR: There's two options. If you feel like you can't get out of your current college because your parents are paying for it, then I would strongly suggest taking advantage of your school's resources. That's what I did for the latter half of my time at college. There are so many grants at schools, so many free materials, free equipment at your disposal, and in real life that never happens. Like, outside of college it's like, "No one's going to give me things for free anymore? This is it?!" Take advantage. I got grants to put on plays, and that way I was able to experiment with directing and writing and just putting on shows. That's a great outlet, but just do the research. And because I went to a school where it wasn't about the arts, no one was taking advantage of those.

The other option is if you do get the chance to leave school, really just use that time wisely to network and to figure out what it is you want to do. I think that I'm having second thoughts about my college experience now because I didn't learn anything. It was great for meting people, and I'm working with everyone that I met there, and it was great for honing my craft, but I didn't learn anything in college. I would go back and take it seriously if I could.

Flyby: What projects do you have coming up?

IR: I'm working on being an executive producer, bringing out other artists. I started because I wanted to see more representation of people of color in the media, and I'm seeing there are a lot more webseries coming out now. There are a lot more writers putting out their work. Now I'm like, "My voice has been heard, and I want to help their voices be heard." Iim also working on a television show with Shonda Rhimes called "I Hate LA Dudes," and working on Awkward Black Girl's movie.

Flyby: What is the advantage of having a web series as opposed to a TV show?

IR: You can literally write something, and it's flawed, but you can put it out there and people will either love it or they'll hate it or they just don't care. With TV there are so many voices that are involved; there's the studio, then the network, then there's the producers. The first joke that comes to your mind is filtered down. But then I'm no one on television, so if I were someone like Louis CK I could put my own stuff out there and write and direct and literally give it to a channel to air. If you can turn television into a web series, that's ideal, but with TV there's just a lot of input.

Flyby: Could you give us any insights as to what's in store for Awkward Black Girl in Season Three?

IR: Wow, I honestly have no idea. I haven't said I'll do a Season Three. I always planned on doing one season, so the second season was already like, "Ok, people are asking for this, great," so a third season is like, "Really?" If I did do a third season I would solely want to do awkward moments. I wouldn't even want to do a story line.