MARA BROCK AKIL has written and produced over 400 episodes of television, leaving her mark on Hollywood. She’s received Essence Magazine’s Visionary Award and the prestigious Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award by NATPE, and has been named in Variety and The Hollywood Reporter’s Showrunner Power Lists, as well as The Hollywood Reporter’s “Women in Entertainment Power100” multiple times. In 2020, Brock Akil entered into a deal with Netflix to exclusively produce television shows for the streaming platform under her new banner, story27 Productions. In 2021, she launched her own digital Dézine (i.e. digital magazine), InTheLandOfMara. Her credits include writing and producing the hit show Girlfriends (2000-2008), The Game (2006-2015), Being Mary Jane (2013-2019), and executive producing Netflix’s STAMPED FROM THE BEGINNING which was on the Academy Awards® Documentary Feature Shortlist. Brock Akil’s most recent project was the critically acclaimed Netflix series adaptation of the 1975 Judy Blume novel FOREVER, starring Karen Pittman, Wood Harris, Lovie Simone, Michael Cooper Jr., and more. The series was renewed for a season 2 and premiered to rave reviews.

In 2021, Mara expanded her passion for non-profit work and started her very own non-profit writing residency in Los Angeles, the Writers’ Colony. The mission is to support up-and-coming underrepresented writers/creatives. The impact of the Writer’s Colony is something Mara’s very proud of. She is delighted to continue the colony’s commitment to nurturing emerging writers, and providing them with exposure, access, and the tools they need to continue on their journeys.