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
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