In the latest episode of Go Off, Sis, the podcast from Refinery29’s Unbothered, the hosts welcome big little boss and 16-year-old actress Marsai Martin, who's fresh off her two wins at this year's NAACP Awards (bringing her total to a whopping 11).
After producing and starring in 2019’s Little (opposite Issa Rae and Regina Hall), the Black-ish star has become the youngest executive producer in Hollywood — and she's constantly adding cherries to her résumé, like launching Genius Entertainment (a family business production company) and producing Disney’s Saturdays, a comedy that pays homage to roller skating. [“Roller skating] is an activity that is so big in Black culture, but you don’t hear about it often,” Martin says. “We just finished filming the pilot. It will inspire young Black girls to do their thing and do what they love.”
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Saturdays is just one of many projects from Genius that’ll focus on Black stories and love, with shows and movies that feature Black girls. Martin says she's over content that's about pain and trauma. “I started Genius to make sure young Black girls don’t go through what I went through. When I was younger, [I didn’t see] girls who looked like me onscreen," she explains. "If you don’t see it actually happening, how do you know you are able to do it? I just want to create content that everyone can relate to, not just a certain white male-dominated group."
To learn about Martin’s sisterhood with other Black starlets in Hollywood, like Euphoria’s Storm Reid, along with her advice for other aspiring artists, listen to the full episode, below.
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