Lena Waithe

Lena Waithe is an Emmy Award-winning screenwriter, actress, and producer who became the first Black woman to win the Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for her deeply personal Master of None (Netflix) episode "Thanksgiving" (2017), which depicted a young Black queer woman navigating her coming-out journey with her family over successive holiday dinners. She also created and produces The Chi (Showtime, 2018–) and wrote the screenplay for Queen & Slim (2019). She came out publicly in 2017 and was married to producer Alana Mayo from 2019 to 2020. In 2018 she appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair wearing a rainbow Pride flag as a cape — one of the most striking LGBTQ+ magazine images of the decade. She is one of the most prominent Black LGBTQ+ voices in Hollywood.