Lena Waithe just became the first-ever black woman to win the Emmy award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series.
The talented writer and actor is also first African-American woman ever to be nominated for the award (in fact, the only other Woman of Colour to ever be nominated is Mindy Kaling).
Waithe received the award for co-writing the emotional 'Thanksgiving' episode of Aziz Ansari's hit Netflix show, Master of None, which shows Waithe's character coming out as a lesbian to her family over a series of annual holiday dinners.
Lena Waithe in the 'Thanksgiving' episode of Master of None. Source: Master of None / Netflix
Waithe is openly gay, and spoke about her nomination for the award during a GLAAD panel event in August. She told the audience that her nomination shows the industry is moving forward, but there is still a very long way to go.
"We still have a lot of work to do and I’m fighting to make sure that happens," Waithe said. "I’m definitely really involved in mentorship ... because the only way it’s going to actually change is for us to not just sort of talk about it, but to look people in the eye who say, 'I want to be a writer,' and go, 'Okay, great. Give me your script. Let me take a look at it. Here’s how you can make it better,' because, again, it’s a matter of greatness. It’s, like, you have to be great to get in there. I’m still striving for greatness, but I think the biggest thing is to make sure that people of colour have some guidance and some mentorship to help them get to that place. Otherwise, they don’t get in those rooms. Or they get in the rooms and they fail. That’s problematic. So I’m just sort of actively trying to help make sure people have opportunities."
Upon accepting the Emmy, Waithe told the audience, "The things that make us different, those are our superpowers."
She also thanked the fans of Master of None, saying "Thank you for embracing a little Indian boy from South Carolina, and a queer black girl from the heart of Chicago".
