Issa is an American actress, writer, director, producer and web series creator. Best known as the creator of the web series Awkward Black Girl, she talks about her own YouTube platform where she features various content created by people of color
Where did the title Insecure come fromIJ
Issa: The title Insecure came from the perception that black people are always flawless or fierce, like superheroes and superwomen. I love flawed people, I love hearing the stories about how you don’t have it together and then you find yourself. I want to see that journey - from insecure to confidence. And I say now that I’m very confident in my insecurities. I know where my flaws lie, and it’s fine, because I’m me. I’ve learned to love myself for who I am.The journey will continue, and I’m only going to try to get better. I want to see that journey with these characters.
Your character in the show is having to deal with a guy who doesn’t want to have a relationship right now. Is that something you feel is easy to relate toIJ
Issa: Being a woman, you’re on a biological clock and you feel rushed, in a sense, to find who you’re supposed to be with.Guys who have the luxury of being like, I can have a kid when I’m 72 and it is fine, but women don’t have that luxury unless they’re rich and can freeze eggs, so it’s frustrating. I do want people to watch and to be able to say: oh, I know that, or I am that, or, I’ve been through that - and you don’t have to be a black woman or even a woman to say that.
Being a black woman, especially, you do feel that guys have a pool of women who will always be ready when they’re ready, and it’s not the same for us. So, it can be frustrating. The show definitely tackles that feeling of pressure and anxiety: When am I going to find my personIJ When am I going to find my matchIJ So, we have a character who’s really anxious about finding her person.
You’ve just said that you think that is particularly the case for black women - why is thatIJ
Issa: I think we’re at the bottom of the desire chain, of the dating totem pole - we’re not the trophies. In rap culture, especially, amongst black men, there’s always a discussion that once you achieve an amount of success, your trophy is the white girl on your arm, or anything but black. It’s more than just a perception - it’s not scientifically proven, but empirically there’s evidence. In dating apps,we’re the last to be chosen and the least desirable and that adds up.
You created a hit YouTube show before you created Insecure, and I’m sure you’ve had difficulties along the way. Do some of those difficulties also come from the fact that you are a black woman, do you thinkIJ
Issa: For me it’s definitely been a road, a journey with various hurdles, but a lot of it is really the subject matter that I want to portray.I don’t want to portray black people being overly dramatic, or having the violence, being set in the hood, have a slave story, where there’s a plight against you;I just want to tell the stories of regular black people. I mean that in the sense that regular white people get stories about them all the time. For a while, nobody was really interested in that, and that became frustrating, because that’s my world, that’s my friends, and I want to tell stories aboutthe people that I know - because I find those small, regular moments very interesting. I’m intrigued by those moments because they’re rooted in reality and authenticity. This show will not at all encapsulate the entire black experience, and not every black person’s going to like it, or to relate to it, and that’s fine with me. My sole focus is making sure that at the end of the day we told a good story, something that’s authentic and real.
Would you call yourself an avid observer of human behaviourIJ
Issa: Yes, a hundred percent. A lot of my insecurity is observational - not only worrying about how you are, but also how you’re being perceived and how other people are perceiving you. For example, you’re having a conversation with someone, and you introduce yourself and you realise you never remember the person’s name because you’re always wondering: how are they looking at me, what’s going on, what’s the situation hereIJ That’s just a general part of human nature, and those are the moments I also love, because everybody goes through those things.
Some of your girlfriends might perhaps recognise themselves in the show - do they mindIJ
Issa: One of my best friends is very close to one of the characters, and I sent her the script, and told her what we were doing - and she was pleasantly surprised. There are other people who I did not tell that they’re in it - they’ll find out, and that’s fine. They’ll be okay.
You can’t be friends with a writer or date a writer, because you’re going to end up on the page. A lot of people I know end up on the page, in some way. All of our writers in the room contributed their own personal stories that ended up in the show in some way, shape or form. I feel like that’s how you keep it real and grounded and authentic. That's very much the tone of this show.
How autobiographical are your character's experiencesIJ
Issa: Not at all, really. The character is me if I made different choices in life.
In the first few episodes, we see some characters work incredibly hard, only for their achievements to be overshadowed when a colleague just gets engaged. Is that something you have witnessed and experienced directlyIJ
Issa: I think for some people there’s a societal status thing. You achieve when you get engaged or married, and that overshadows any other accomplishments you may have. And it really sucks. It sucks being a hardworking woman and killing it - like we have our character Molly who’s like killing it in the workplace and surpassing everybody’s expectations, only to see people fawn over her coworker, who’s mediocre, when she gets engaged. It’s just infuriating. It’s unfair, but it’s a real dynamic.
Is your perception of femininity something that you grew up with, or something you have created for yourselfIJ
Issa:I think it’s definitely something that I built on my own. I did have my mother pushing specific notions of femininity on me , she wanted me to have a sweet 16 and go to prom, I did neither. It’s about being an individual.
Do you think female friendships are different to male friendships, in the sense that they are incredibly supportiveIJ
Issa: I agree with that a hundred percent. Women are my life - my female friendships are everything to me,they mean the most to me. I lost my wallet two days ago. I was walking and dropped it on the street. I found out this guy was using all my cards to pay for a Square account, it has his name and address on it.My friends and me went to his house, yesterday. They just said: we're going to roll up at his house, and we going to get this back; you stay in the back, and we're going to ask him a question. That embodies like a lot of my female friendships. He wasn't home though, we're going to go there again.
The show is billed as a friendship between two black women - do you think black women's friendships are differentIJ
Issa: I think a lot of the mainstream depiction of black female relations have been antagonistic, with lots of fighting and chair throwing, and I wanted to show that these are the friendships that are really out there. I don't know anybody out there who throws chairs at other people, I don't physically fight with my friends. It's just a beautiful friendship and we have our own way of supporting each other, of uplifting each other. I wanted it to be a very specific show about black female friendship in and of itself, but those elements that you'll see will also be universal.
Your character and her friend, Molly, call each other 'bitch' a lot. What would you say to any potential audience members who might find that offensiveIJ
Issa: Yvonne Orji, the actress who plays Molly, was saying when she got the script, dang, are they actually friendsIJ Then she came to a party where she saw my friends and I interact, and she was like, oh! They're just saying it, they like each other, that's how they boost each other up. I think it's just something culturally that we've embraced and adapted. It's the same thing, in a sense that, with the n word that we use, it's just a part of how we talk, that we use for also comedic effect. It's just an accent to compliments or put downs that we give to each other. A term of endearment.
With shows like Blackish, and Fresh off the Boat, do you think TV's getting a little better at representing diversityIJ
Issa:I think we're getting better behind the scenes, which is the most important thing. Writers, directors, creators, executives…and behind the scenes leads to in front of the camera, as well. I just hope that it's not a trend. I think that because things are changing behind the scenes that it's not.
What's your mother's reaction to the showIJ
Issa: She saw the pilot for the first timea couple of weeks ago. There's a lot of language. But she really liked it. She pulled me aside, and she was like: That mouth, we're going to wash it out, but good job.