Mara Brock Akil, Raytown South High School, Class of 1988

Mara Brock Akil is a 1988 graduate of Raytown South High School . Raised primarily in the Kansas City Area, she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from Northwestern University. She is the creator and executive producer of the hit CBS Paramount Network Television Comedy Series “Girlfriends” and “The Game” for CW.

Beginning her career in the entertainment industry as a writer on Fox's critically acclaimed “South Central, Mara later wrote for “Moesha”, where she became one of the series' producers after four seasons. Mara also served as a supervising producer on the comedy series “The Jamie Foxx Show”.

Among Mara's honors are two SHINE (Sexual Health in Entertainment) Award given by The Media Project; 2002, 2003, and 2004 NAACP Image Award nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series; and a PRISM Award. In 2005, Mara and the cast of “Girlfriends” were honored with the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame award for their outstanding performance, production, positive influence and portrayal of African-Americans in film, television and video.

Mara, who is a native of and currently lives in Los Angeles, California has been featured in the media with her selection as one of VIBE magazines's “Top 100 Hottest People”, Honey magazine's “Top 25 Hottest Women in Urban Entertainment”, and Essence magazine's “Outstanding Women Under 40”.

She is married to Salim Akil, with whom she has a son, Yasin. Mara enjoys mentoring young writers.