Issa Rae talks launching her own prosecco and building a creative empire

Actor, writer, and entrepreneur Issa Rae rose to fame through her popular YouTube show, The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl. Since then, she has made her name creating and starring in the hit HBO series Insecure and acting in this summer’s Barbie and the upcoming movie American Fiction. Behind the scenes, she is also building an empire through her production company Hoorae, which recently announced a project to adapt New York Times podcast series Nice White Parents for the screen. She has also backed the haircare line Sienna Naturals and Hilltop Coffee + Kitchen in California, where she is based. 

Today, she is launching her latest venture, Viarae, a prosecco she designed in partnership with E & J Gallo Winery. “Prosecco has been my signature drink for a while,” Rae says on the latest episode of Fast Company‘s Most Innovative Companies podcast. “I associate it with my best moments and my come up,” she adds, noting that she first had the drink with her Insecure director, Melina Matsoukas. “It was basically an approachable champagne. Champagne felt too highbrow.” Unlike many celebrity alcohol deals, Rae actually approached Gallo herself to collaborate.

Rae stopped by the studio to record Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies podcast and talk about her entrepreneurial ventures and how she picks which projects to work on. Here are some insights from the conversation, in her own words.

On her investment philosophy

“I want to back things that I love, and things that I need or want. I decided to invest in Sienna Naturals because I wear my hair naturally a lot and taking care of it is very hard. I happen to have a sister-in-law who was testing products on her hair and tested them on me. I was a constant guinea pig! I wanted in on it because she was making products for my hair type. 

With Hilltop, I wanted a coffee shop in my neighborhood, and there wasn’t one. I told my business manager about it, and he found a collaborative partner for me. With Viarae, I wanted a version of my favorite drink I could stand behind.”

On creating a company with a mission

“With my production company, Hoorae, I wanted to create an ecosystem. All of the businesses [under the Hoorae umbrella] are extensions of things that we’re doing or spaces that we want to get into. We have Raedio, which handles music supervision, audio storytelling, and creating concepts for TV. We also have a management company called Color Creative. Color Creative started out as an opportunity to find up-and-coming voices and try to replicate the model that I had with Awkward Black Girl, where you create a piece of work, get people excited about it, and hopefully then sell it to a network. We were funding pilots for cheap and writers that we believed in. That got some writers noticed and represented, but some would come back to us and be like, ‘You were so central in getting us these opportunities. We have a manager, but can you still help us?’ That’s how Color Creative transitioned into a management company.”

On having an entrepreneurial streak

“I’ve always been a collaborator. I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t have capable people that I believed in. But I think my streak comes from the internet. I feel like anybody who’s created content for the internet has to learn so many things. You have to be savvy in certain areas and learn so much. Because that was my starting place, so much felt possible and it felt attainable. It’s just like you’re building something from nothing and showcasing it. So I thought, why not replicate that with other areas of the business?“

On the impact of the writers’ strike

“Post-strike, I think fewer shows catering to ‘niche’ audiences are going to be made. As a creator, I am navigating that. Now, studios want to maximize audience potential. I stand by the statement that you could never pitch a Black Seinfeld because you couldn’t pitch a show about nothing.”

To listen to more of the interview and learn about what kind of “drunk” Rae becomes, and why she is obsessed with Love is Blind, click the media player above.