Mara Brock Akil

Mara Brock Akil (born May 27, 1970) is an American television producer, screenwriter and director. She became the youngest African American female showrunner and executive producer when she created the sitcom ''Girlfriends'' (2000–2008), airing on UPN and The CW, and the first African American female showrunner to have two series simultaneously on broadcast network television when she created its spin-off ''The Game'' (2006–15) on The CW before moving to BET.

She created BET's first drama series ''Being Mary Jane'' (2013–19) and ''The Game'' sequel (2021–22) on Paramount+. She co-created ''Love Is'' (2018) on OWN and executive produced the DC Arrowverse series ''Black Lightning'' (2018–21) on The CW. She was a writer on ''South Central'' (1994) on Fox and a writer and producer on ''Moesha'' (1996–99) on UPN, ''The Jamie Foxx Show'' (1999–2000) on The WB, ''Cougar Town'' (2010) on ABC and the theatrical film ''Sparkle'' (2012). Together with her husband and collaborator Salim Akil, the creative duo founded production company Akil Productions in 2000.

Brock Akil is the only African American showrunner to have series on broadcast network TV every year of the 2000s, and was the first to have two series and was the only to have two black sitcoms simultaneously that decade. She is the only African American showrunner or executive producer to have series on television almost every year of the 2000s and 2010s with the exception of 2016. Her series were two of the only three shows in 2007 and 2008 and was one of the only two shows in 2009 with a predominantly black cast on broadcast network TV. Provided by Wikipedia