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Lena Waithe signs new overall deal with Amazon Studios!
The Television Critics Association announced Lena Waithe's new overall deal with Amazon Studios on Saturday. Today, we're reflecting on her biggest successes and celebrating how far she's come!
Throughout her entire life, Lena has known that she wanted to write for television and worked hard to make her dreams a reality. Now, with multiple works to be proud of, Lena is a role model for many looking to break into the entertainment industry.
She started as an assistant to the executive producer of Girlfriends on UPN, and worked her way to a minor acting role in The Comeback with Lisa Kudrow. Since then, Lena has written for Nickelodeon on How to Rock and the dramedy series Dear White People in 2012 and 2014, respectively.
One of Lena's most notable works was when she wrote and acted in Netflix's Master of None. Lena also made history with this show as the first African-American female winner of the 2017 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series. She won the award for the Season 2 episode "Thanksgiving," which served as a written retrospection on when she came out as a lesbian. Now happily engaged to her partner Alana Mayo as of Thanksgiving 2017, she gives hope to many women of color and LGBTQ+ fans who also want happiness and success.
"Thanksgiving" wasn't the only instance Lena reflected on the past through her writing. In 2018, she developed The Chi, an autobiographical drama series on Showtime. To many fans' delight, this show will be getting a third season. But that's not all to look forward to from Lena!
She is also the executive producer for a series called Them: Covenant, an anthology-style horror series coming soon on Amazon Prime. In addition, Lena's upcoming romantic drama Queen & Slim starring Jodie Turner-Smith and Daniel Kaluuya will be released by Universal Pictures on November 27th.
