Issa Rae’s Essay Collection I Should Be Smarter Now Shares Hard-Won Hollywood Wisdom (Exclusive)
“This collection is part confession, part reflection and part ‘here’s what I wish I’d known,’” Rae exclusively tells PEOPLE. “But mostly it’s just me being honest about the weird, wonderful journey from having big dreams to making them a reality.”
“From dreaming of briefcases as a child to running her own media empire, Issa’s creative evolution is both hilarious and inspiring,” says publisher Julia Sommerfeld. “These essays capture her remarkable journey with the wit, wisdom and real talk that has made millions of people feel seen.”
Related Stories
The collection includes six individually published essays on a range of topics, including “The Business of Being Me” and “Playing Well with Others,” which range from recollections of her childhood “conducting herself with entrepreneurial authority on a toy phone in her bedroom,” to discovering “the superpower of collaboration while remaining unapologetically herself.”
The actress also reflects in “The Geography of Creativity” on her hometown of Los Angeles, and her gradual realization that it was her “true muse.” “I See You Seeing Me” includes the celebrated entertainer detailing “her shoulda/coulda/woulda journey from awkward schoolgirl to a Hollywood life under the spotlight.”
In “The Art of Strategic Procrastination,” the writer-producer-actress shares how, despite being “an inveterate procrastinator,” she is a “multitasking phenomenon” in her personal and professional life.
The Barbie star concludes the collection with an aptly titled essay, “I Almost Know What I’m Doing.” Rae “pulls back the curtain on her ever-evolving career in an always-changing industry and reveals that the best investment she made was her belief in herself.”
I Should be Smarter Now will be available for purchase on Tuesday, Aug. 26 and is available for preorder now.
