15 Facts About Akilah Hughes

Akilah Saidah Kamaria Hughes was born on August 31,1989 and is an American writer, comedian, YouTuber, podcaster, and actress.

Akilah Hughes has been a digital correspondent for MTV, HBO, Fusion TV, and Comedy Central.

Akilah Hughes was born in Florence, Kentucky, where she attended Boone County High School.

In 2012, Hughes moved to New York City, New York, and earned an Upright Citizens Brigade scholarship.

On December 2,2013, Akilah Hughes uploaded a comedy video, "Meet Your First Black Girlfriend," answering hypothetical questions from a white boyfriend, and it went viral.

Akilah Hughes was again recognized for releasing the video "On Intersectionality in Feminism and Pizza", that went viral after being uploaded on April 8,2015.

On June 30,2016, Akilah Hughes created a petition on Change.

In 2017, Akilah Hughes sued YouTuber Carl Benjamin for copyright infringement after he used a portion of her Hillary Clinton election party footage.

Akilah Hughes began appearing as herself on web series in 2014, with her first appearances coming in two episodes of mental_floss: The List Show.

In 2020, Akilah Hughes appeared as a panelist on the Syfy television series The Great Debate.

In 2015, Akilah Hughes was awarded a fellowship from the Sundance Episodic Story Lab, with a half-hour comedy pilot titled Unlikely, co-written with Lyle Friedman.

Akilah Hughes began writing her first book in 2015, after a collaboration with Penguin Group for her Tipsy Book Reviews video series on YouTube led the publisher to offer her a book deal.

In 2023, Akilah Hughes wrote for Steven Soderbergh's science fiction series Command Z, inspired by Kurt Andersen's 2020 book, Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America.

On September 3,2024, the podcast titled Rebel Spirit with Akilah Hughes premiered its first episode "A Homecoming".

Akilah Hughes was diagnosed with benign liver tumors in 2015, an illness for which she had surgery in July 2016.