Northwestern Events Calendar

Oct
6
2022

Dialogue with the Dean: Mara Brock Akil

When: Thursday, October 6, 2022
6:00 PM - 7:30 PM CT

Where: Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts, Josephine Louis Theater, 1949 Campus Drive; 10-30 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston, IL 60208 map it

Audience: Faculty/Staff - Student - Public - Post Docs/Docs - Graduate Students

Contact: Tricia David   (847) 491-5312

Group: School of Communication

Category: Academic

Description:

Mara Brock Akil (BSJ 92) is a prolific, multi-award-winning television writer, producer, and showrunner. She has created over 400 episodes of television, including the groundbreaking series Girlfriends (2000), its spin-off The Game (2006), BET’s Being Mary Jane (2013), CW’s Black Lightning (2018), and Love Is__ (2018) on OWN.
 
In 2021, Brock Akil founded the Writers’ Colony Residency to support up-and-coming writers and creatives. That same year, she launched her digital “dézine” (digital magazine), In the Land of Mara, which explores living a creative, intentional life through Brock Akil’s personal essays and thoughtful brand collaborations.
 
In 2019, she was honored with the prestigious Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award by NATPE for exhibiting extraordinary passion, leadership, independence, and vision through her contributions to television. In 2017, she was inducted into Northwestern’s Medill Hall of Achievement, and received the distinguished Northwestern Alumni Medal—the highest honor bestowed upon alumni by the Northwestern Alumni Association. Some of her prior accolades include Essence magazine’s Visionary Award, given during their annual Black Women in Hollywood luncheon; and being named to Variety and The Hollywood Reporter’s most powerful showrunner lists, as well as to The Hollywood Reporter’s "Women in Entertainment Power 100" list multiple times.
 
Brock Akil resides in Los Angeles and is married to fellow writer-producer-director Salim Akil. They have two sons, Yasin and Nasir.

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