Issa Rae returns to her roots with Snap’s new accelerator class

Issa Rae got her start as an “awkward Black girl” on YouTube, and now that she’s a mainstream celebrity known for creating, writing, and starring in HBO‘s Insecure, she’s funneling her success back into the creator industry. Her creator-centric company Ensemble has partnered with Snapchat‘s accelerator 523 to provide its fourth-year class of 15 creators with mentorship and a direct line to brand deals with Ensemble’s partners, which include Pepsi, Chili’s, and Popeyes.

523 launched in 2021, and to date has incubated 58 creators and content companies. Among its graduates are folks like Mia Finney, who used funds from the program to upgrade her production quality and now has 6.5 million followers on TikTok, and companies like Swish Cultures, which grabbed the NBA‘s attention while in 523 and ended up partnering with the league for a Snapchat show, NBA Presents Swish Cultures Weekly.

So far, two years of 523 focused on content companies, and one year focused on Black creators. This year, Snapchat expanded the program to allow creators from all underrepresented communities. The 15 creators it selected as participants (full list below) will spend the next 12 months getting “resources, education, 1:1 mentorship, and more to fuel their content capabilities and monetize it on Snapchat,” Snap says.

And a lot of that fuel will come from Ensemble, which Rae founded earlier this year to hook up creators and brands for “deeper relationships” beyond the usual influencer-sponsor connection.

While Rae became a creator in the early days of YouTube, a very different era of content than the one we’re in now, she still knows what it means to be a creator, and what creators need–and that’s why her company becoming part of this program will likely be a big benefit for participants. It’s worth thinking about, too, that Rae headed off YouTube into Hollywood and now is using her star power to return to the digital content industry and support the kind of up-and-coming creator she once was.

(Also partnering with this year’s cohort are AT&T and Clinique, so between them and Ensemble, creators will get some serious and potentially career-boosting interaction with major brands.)

Ensemble co-founder and President Ian Schafer wrote on LinkedIn that the company is “proud to be Snap’s exclusive partner in empowering this year’s class of storytellers while providing brand partners with wonderful opportunities to collaborate.”

He said those collaborations have already begun, but didn’t give details about what they are just yet.

Here’s the full list of 523’s 2024 class of creators:

• LaLa Milan
• Joseph Arujo
• Cindy Chen
• Dillian the Celebrity
• Kennedy Murray
• Tor’i Brooks a.k.a Bionic
• Shannon Baker
• Emmanuel Duverneau
• Sofi Ibrahim
• David Bullock
• Ydelays Rodriguez
• Alan Henderson
• Jaylin Reed
• Davie Rickenbacker
• Zaina Sesay