Mara Brock Akil

Mara Brock Akil (born Mara Dionne Brock; May 27, 1970) is an American screenwriter and television producer. She created the UPN sitcom television series Girlfriends (2000–2008) and its spin-off The Game (2006–2015). She later created Being Mary Jane (2013–2019), the first drama series for BET. In 2018, she produced the DC Arrowverse series Black Lightning for The CW and created the show Love Is for the Oprah Winfrey Network. Early life and education She was born in Los Angeles, California to Joan Demeter, and was raised primarily in Kansas City. When Brock Akil was eight years old, her parents divorced; this later became the vision behind Brock Akil's main character in Girlfriends. Joan Demeter left Los Angeles and moved to Kansas City, where she was able to work her way up from an entry-level position at Marion Labs to a computer programmer, while raising Brock Akil and her two siblings: brother William "Bill" Brock and younger sister, actress Kara Brock. She graduated from Raytown South High School in 1988. She is a graduate of Northwestern University, where she earned a bachelor's degree in journalism and became a member of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority.