Issa Rae Covers MARIE CLAIRE’S 2023 ‘Power’ Issue

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MARIE CLAIRE sits down with Issa Rae to discuss the SAG-AFTRA strike, how she turned her go-to drink for celebrating wins into her next business and her continued goal to invest in ventures that matter, including her south Los Angeles community.

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On the SAG-AFTRA strike: “The strike was devastating. I’ve been building [a project] for five years and now it’s gone. On the [entertainment] business side, we lost some employees. That really, really sucks. But this industry is changing so much. For me it’s like, ‘Okay, but what now?’ I know that executives and networks aren’t going to be as receptive as they were to Black focused content. I’m not pivoting, but I’m just trying to be more strategic in terms of the stories that I tell and maximizing our impact.”

On her latest venture, Viarae her Prosecco: “I started experimenting with cocktails made with prosecco—whiskey and prosecco, then vodka and prosecco—and people started drinking them.” There’s also Rae’s mix of prosecco and Jameson that “gets you right…quick,” she says. “Then I was like, ‘Well, I’m giving them this one basic version, and if they’re going to try it because of me, I want it to be from me.’ This [brand] is something that is of me that I love; that I have made.”

On her haircare line with her sister-in-law Hannah Diop, Rae didn’t hesitate to test the products—from curl creams to edge control—and share what worked best: “I am proud to be the guinea pig. My hair hasn’t fallen out yet, so it’s been good. My hair will fall out before anybody else’s hair falls out—that’s the promise.”

On Rae’s first loves: Acting & Creating: “I’m a storyteller at the end of the day and if there is a story bursting out of me, somebody’s going to hear it. I’m fortunate enough to be able to have a platform where they mostly can. And I like the challenge of getting an audience invested in a story.”

On wanting to see more people of color on-screen: “I felt underserved for a period of my life coming up. When you’re a little girl thinking about performing for an audience, all you think about is, ‘Oh, my family,’ and ‘Oh, my friends.’ I don’t think I’ve ever escaped that. They are, I guess, the hypothetical people that I think about. That is my core audience and theirs are the stories that I’m mostly interested in.”

On remembering a hard lesson in finding power in advocating for the people she wants on her team: “In the past, when you’re coming up and you’re trying to sell a TV show, managers, execs, would say that it’s better to have a project clean—it’s better to not have anybody else attached, So I listened to that, and that ruined some relationships. After a while I got to the point where it’s like, ‘No, I know these people are talented and I want to fight to be able to get them a position in the larger thing.’ While I haven’t won every battle, I try to fight as much as possible to get people those opportunities that I know I would want.”

On Hollywood’s uncertainty: “I only have a foresight of what isn’t going to be. There’s certain things that I want to take advantage of outside of the industry just because I feel like [the industry] doesn’t know what it wants to be, it’s in flux. And there are no innovators anymore…I want to be able to have control of my own destiny.”

Issa Rae covers Marie Claire’s The Power Issue, which just went live across Marie Claire’s digital platforms and will be available on newsstands November 21st.

[Photo Credit: Chrisean Rose for Marie Claire Magazine]

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