EBONY: Tracy Oliver Cover Shoot

EBONY

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00:00It's super important for me to write about black women.

00:07I look at it as kind of an obligation and a responsibility and not necessarily even

00:13a hobby.

00:14It's something that I felt was important because my mom always said to be the change that you

00:19want to see in the world.

00:21And so I used to complain about not seeing myself or my friends or my family on screen.

00:27I decided to write about black women because I needed to write the things that I wasn't

00:32seeing.

00:33So for me, it's super important to do it because no one else is going to tell our story better

00:38than us.

00:40The thing that I kept seeing that was missing was black joy and fun.

00:47And I'll be honest, my mom is seeing Girl Trip at this point, so it's no surprise to

00:51her that I love getting drunk and having a good time.

00:54And that's the type of stuff that I wasn't actually seeing on screen.

00:56It was just us being normal, going to parties and going to fun dinners with our friends

01:01or karaoke and just showing out and acting a fool.

01:04I kept seeing oppression stories and period pieces and just stuff that was reflecting

01:11the pain of our history and not necessarily the fun and the joy of it.

01:16And I think those stories are important for sure, but I think we are so much more than

01:20just our pain.

01:21So I wanted to kind of just make sure we showed our light and our fun and our beauty and our

01:28love too.

01:29I think in 2025, we are going to be in desperate need of laughter and sisterhood.

01:36And I think it goes without saying, I know that now more than ever, people are going

01:41to be watching content and hoping for joy and light and love to be reflected and to

01:47be reflected with people that look like us, that have melanin, that have kinky hair.

01:52And I said it in New York because New York for me, when I lived in Harlem, was everything.

01:57It was just so much black and brown people and art and fashion and music and jazz and

02:04good food.

02:05And I'm from the South and I saw a lot of the Southern culture being influenced there

02:09too.

02:10And so it's just a really vibrant city and nowhere on screen was Harlem at that point.

02:16And I was like, how can this city exist that's so beautiful and so magical to me?

02:20And no one has put it on screen yet.

02:22There's a lot of things that I would love for Harlem's legacy to be.

02:26One, just selfishly for black writers that are coming up, like, I want you to see me

02:33and see the show that we're doing and know that there's a career for you.

02:37When I came out of film school, the reason I paired up with my friend Issa Rae, we went

02:43to college together, was because we were a race during that period.

02:47There was no black person in comedy in a lead role when we finished film school.

02:52And so we did that as a response to the lack of representation.

02:58So I'm hoping just on a small scale that the legacy is inspiring to other content creators.

03:04And then on a larger scale, I'm just happy that I got a show on the air with all different

03:10types of complexions, body types, hair types.

03:13It is so hard to do that.

03:15And I'm grateful to Amazon.

03:17They allowed me to cast the way I wanted to cast.

03:19I know black women and I know we need certain types of beauty on screen.

03:24And so I think there's a legacy for that too, for people looking at it to realize they don't

03:30have to be a size zero or to be biracial or to be, you know, short, thick, thin, whatever.

03:36You can be whatever and still make it on screen.

03:38I have worked for showrunners and been on shows that my voice was silenced on and that

03:46I didn't feel safe in and the set wasn't happy.

03:51And you didn't feel the camaraderie and the sisterhood.

03:54You felt like you were just trying to survive day to day.

03:58And so it was important to me because it does start at the top.

04:00It was important to me that I show up and make it a safe space and that everybody feels

04:06like this is a community, like we're making art, but also like I want to hear if you're

04:12having a bad day.

04:13I want you to love what you do.

04:14I want you to look forward to coming to set.

04:17It feels amazing because I think I've been able to create the set and the work environment

04:21that I never had, that I always wanted.

04:25And I think for me, the testament of like what I was able to accomplish was kind of

04:31brought home when Megan, who has acted since she was like three years old, pulled me aside

04:38and said, I have been acting since I was a child and this is the most supported I've

04:44ever felt.

04:45And you see a lot of people quit or a lot of people fall into really hard times and

04:50a lot of it is because there's a lack of support.

04:52And so with this set, it was the exact opposite of that.

04:57And the people that this was their first job, like Jerry and Shaniqua, this was their first

05:01job in series regular roles, I was just grateful that I got to introduce them to a world that

05:09loved them and that made them feel beautiful when they walked in and supported them.

05:14And you know, I wish the best for both of them moving forward, but I am so grateful

05:19that they had this first.

05:22It's the best setup you can ever have, I think, for coming into this business.

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