Issa Rae must have more than 24 hours because sis is out here doing everything. The writer, actress and producer just added another notch to her resume: coffee shop owner.
The creator of Insecure said she always wanted a Black-owned spot to get a cup of brew in her neighborhood of Inglewood, California and teamed up with the owners of Hilltop Coffee and Kitchen, Ajay Relan and Yonnie Hagos, to bring that to fruition.
The 34-year-old star of the forthcoming romantic comedy, The Photograph, announced the news Tuesday on Instagram.
“I’ve always wanted a coffee shop in my neighborhood,” Rae says in an Instagram video.
“Coffee shops facilitate productivity in so many ways, they facilitate collaboration,” she continues. “I personally have done all of my writing in coffee shops. So it always disappointed me that there weren’t any that were Black-owned, people of color-owned in my neighborhood.”
Rae adds in the video that she’s proud to open the coffee shop in the place where she calls “home” and to have a “place of comfort.”
Hilltop, which usually employees people from the neighborhoods where they inhabit and pays them above a minimum wage, boasts 3,500 square feet of space over two stories. Along with coffee, teas, lattes and the like, Hilltop has a full menu with sandwiches, waffles and salads.
Congrats, Issa!