Issa Rae is the creator of the beloved and critically acclaimed YouTube Series "The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl," in which she stars as J, a hilariously honest—and, yes, awkward—young woman dealing with the trials and tribulations of everyday life. On campus this weekend for a conference at Harvard Law School, she chatted with Flyby about the importance of embracing the awkward, from stop signs to higher education.

Flyby: How much of J's experiences [on the show] come from your own personal experience?

Issa Rae: A lot of J's experiences haven't happened to me except the poor awkward moments like the stop sign… all the awkward moments have happened to at some point in my life. But her life is not my life. She handles things in a way that I wouldn't.

Flyby: Do you think you're similar to J?

IR: Yeah… I'm nicer than she is. She has the worst thoughts in life, but she's an extension of me. She thinks things that sometimes I think, but out loud. She's 30 to 40 percent me, it varies. It depends on the day.

Flyby: What's the most awkward thing that's ever happened to you?

IR: It's everyday in life. I think sixth grade defines my awkwardness. We moved from Maryland to LA, and in Maryland I had all these interracial friends and we were all black girls and I was used to that. Then I moved to a predominantly black neighborhood in LA, and they hated me because I wore my hair naturally and I had this weird sense of humour to them, and I was just super goofy. Everything I did was like, "I want to be black, too! I'm black, guys!" Looking back on it, it's very embarrassing.

Flyby: There are a lot of awkward people at Harvard. Do you have any advice for them?

IR: I would say embrace it. At Stanford there were definitely like, hella awkward people but if you just embrace it and know who you are… the worst thing you can do is try to hide it. I would say get comfortable with your awkwardness.

Flyby: Why do you think Awkward Black Girl has been so popular? What do you think it takes to make a YouTube video go viral?

IR: I think it was good timing. I think specifically because there's a lead female of color, and at the time on television there wasn't. She's relatable, she goes through things that everybody goes through; everybody's been uncomfortable, everybody's been awkward at some point. I think that's the reason it's become so popular. I think to go viral you have to tap into something that's universal and that people can look at and go, "That's so me!" or, "That's so my friend!" People want to see themselves depicted in the characters. Or it has to be a cat video.