好莱坞莉娜Waithe和拉贾尼在洛杉矶开设广告办公室

Lena Waithe, the prolific writer-producer-actor, named her production and development company, Hillman Grad, after the fictitious historically Black college that was the locus for

the pioneering television series that ran for six seasons on NBC from the late 1980s to the early ’90s. “That show said to the world that being Black and being intelligent was cool. It celebrated the Black nerd and the Black woman who wanted to major in art history. It was all about a community, a tribe, and that’s how I think of Hillman Grad,” says Waithe, the first African American woman to win an Emmy for writing in a comedy series, for her work on

. (Her ample producer credits include

and

both currently on view, as well as

a horror anthology series created by Little Marvin, and

Radha Blank’s semi-autobiographical film about a New York playwright who abandons the theater world and all its micro- and macro-racial aggressions to become a rapper.)

Waithe in her private office. 

Working in tandem with her producing partner Rishi Rajani, the company’s president of film and television, Waithe has, in the span of a few short years, established Hillman Grad as a Hollywood powerhouse and an engine of change, elevating the work of BIPOC talents from the writers room to the boardroom, in front of the camera and behind. “We want to give a voice to a broad range of people who have traditionally been marginalized—because of their race, sexual preference, financial means, geographical location, and other factors. I think we surprise people in terms of who we give the spotlight to and who we put the spotlight on,” Rajani explains.

The conference room is wrapped in a gold cork wall covering by Candice Olson and a Kelly Wearstler for Lee Jofa wallpaper.

Waithe’s private office; Wall covering by Aux Abris; Carpet by Tom Dixon.

The inspiration wall in Waithe’s office features a painting of Nina Simone by Adrienne Muse.

Mays responded with a heady array of plush, polychromatic fabrics, an assortment of graphic and prismatic wall coverings—notably the conference room’s pairing of gold cork wallpaper and a pattern that nods to the striking lines of Kuba cloth—and classic midcentury furnishings that give a shoutout to the populist underpinnings of the modernist movement. There isn’t a sterile white wall in sight. “I tried to create a space that inspires people to make something beautiful, a space that feels comfortable and safe for the staff and all the visiting directors, actors, writers, and executives,” Mays says of her decorative ministrations.

mural by Adrienne Muse. 

The reception area, anchored by a massive vintage Steve Chase sofa that Mays reupholstered in burgundy velvet, offers a deep immersion in the Hillman Grad vibe. Artist Adrienne Muse covered several walls in murals featuring portraits of performers such as Whitney Houston, a Waithe favorite, and the cast of

. A mural by Swiss-Malian-American artist Penda Diakité further enlivens the reception zone’s vivid, staccato rhythm.

Lena Waithe, the CEO of Hillman Grad Productions.

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