It all started when a 26-year-old African-American woman decided to create her own web series, “The Mis-Adventures of Awkward Black Girl,” because of the limited roles for people of color on television.
Issa Rae, born Jo-Issa Rae Diop, plays J, and the show follows her professional and love lives, the AP reports.
“The Web series came about because I really didn’t see anybody like me on the screen, nobody that I could relate to,” said Rae, the show’s producer, writer and director. “There’s are just so many limited archetypes for black females in particular, and just people of color in general, and it’s frustrating to look at the screen and only be able to relate to people like Tina Fey or Amy Poehler, people who don’t look like me.”
Since the series first posted online in February, the debut episode has garnered more than 240,000 hits, the AP reports. Subsequent episodes have received more than 100,000 hits and 1,000 viewer comments. Nearly 17,000 people are dedicated to the show’s Facebook page.
View the first episode of the series after the jump.
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View more episodes at http://www.awkwardblackgirl.com