Ballerific Woman: Mara Brock Akil-Hollywood’s TV Powerhouse

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In a perfect world, men and women would receive equal pay. African American women would be presented the same opportunities as their white counterparts. Rejection would be based on qualifications rather than race.
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Unfortunately, this world is far from perfect, however, there are people, more specifically women, who have dedicated their time, money and education to make a positive change. They’ve used their experiences and their encounters with injustices to fight and/or create more opportunities for their children and their children’s children, in an effort to make the world a better place. They’ve put our pain and problems on their backs and created space for change, new opportunities for our brothers and sisters to excel and succeed in a world that is designed against us. This is #BlackExcellence. These are #BallerificWomen.
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One of these special women is Mara Brock Akil. Whether you know her from her hit show “Girlfriends” or from her recent tv success, “Being Mary Jane”, Mara Brock Akil has taken the tv industry by storm, giving us sitcom gems that have left a heavy imprint on the culture.
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Brock Akil first started in the industry in 1994 as a writer for short-lived Fox series “South Central”.
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By 1999, she was a supervising producer and writer for “The Jamie Foxx Show”, after already working on another sitcom, “Moesha”.
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One of Brock Akil’s most notable creations was the UPN series “Girlfriends”. The series was created and executive produced by Brock Akil, alongside Kelsey Grammer.
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The series was a major hit and went on to have eight successful seasons. It received an array of awards such as multiple NAACP Awards for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series (Tracee Ellis Ross) and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (Reginald C. Hayes).
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Though the series came to an end, Brock Akil kept working. She later went on to create another hit series, “The Game”, and in 2013 created BET’s “Being Mary Jane”, which earned her multiple NAACP nominations and a Black Reel Awards award.
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Through her creative vision and impeccable work ethic, Brock Akil has left her stamp on the television game and changed the entertainment industry forever.