Born Jo-Issa Rae Diop in Los Angeles to a Senegalese doctor and teacher from Louisiana, Rae spent part of her childhood in Potomac, MD, before moving back to California with her family. She felt a struggle to fit in, and her quest to find her identity would later become material for her award-winning web series, The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl . I was fresh out of university when Awkward Black Girl was at its most popular, and watching it was like getting hit with a brick of recognition, and like I was catching up with a friend. Maybe that’s why, at every step of her career, I’ve cheered for Rae’s wins like she is my friend. Of course, like any real friend would do, Rae just laughs when I tell her this, and says, “That was so earnest.” I’m not alone, though, in my connection to Rae. Awkward Black Girl ran from 2011 to 2013 and made Rae a hero for uncool Black girls everywhere who felt, well, insecure. It was unprecedented, the kind of representation we’d been waiting for. When Insecure dropped on HBO in 2016, Rae became the Beyoncé for girls of color who didn’t feel like we had our shit together. And now, she’s built a brand off that relatability. But the thing about Rae is, while we may feel like we know her, we actually don’t — knowing someone’s opinions on Love Is Blind isn’t the same thing as knowing them, and I’m reminded of that whenever I try to get personal with Rae.