Issa Rae
Jo-Issa Rae Diop was born in Los Angeles, California, on January 12, 1985. While her family lived in Dakar, Senegal, during parts of her childhood, she was predominantly raised in Potomac, Maryland, where her early life inspired her creative purpose. Rae knew she wanted to shape stories centered around the Black experience. She brought this passion to Stanford University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in African and African-American Studies.
Rae later wrote and created several projects that highlighted her smart yet eccentric humor, achieving recognition for her original HBO series, Insecure. After Insecure’s five-season run and instantaneous success, Rae solidified her influence as a Hollywood producer, giving her more room to experiment with different types of creative and digital projects. One of these ventures includes her recent vertical series, Screen Time.
Issa Rae and her production company, Hoorae Media, partnered with TikTok to create Screen Time in 2025, which has since become the platform’s biggest micro-drama hit. In its first week, the contained thriller went viral, reaching close to 75 million views, with the highest watch time of any TikTok series to date. Since its release, the vertical series has garnered an astounding 150 million views, demonstrating the rising popularity of storytelling in this format.
Through Screen Time’s immediate success, Rae has continued to break boundaries by redefining how studios can reach new audiences while providing new avenues for media creators to reclaim their voices. Rae recalls how the decision to create Screen Time was anchored in feeling like this was an accessible point. “We view the format as the current way audiences consume content,” she says, “making it an opportune time and an opportunity meeting the moment to take these kinds of creative risks.” Although Issa Rae is not unfamiliar with producing.