Issa Rae accepted the Entertainment Entrepreneur of the Year Award at Variety's L.A. Power of Women event on Wednesday in Beverly Hills. Courtney Kelso, senior executive vice president at U.S. Bank, presented the honor to the Emmy-nominated actress, writer, producer and entrepreneur.

Rae created, executive produced and starred in HBO's "Insecure," which ended its run in 2021. Introducing her, Kelso said the comedian has "put her own community here in L.A. front and center across her incredible ventures."

Rae opened her acceptance speech with a joke: she had not written anything inspirational, because she had been distracted by everything happening across the nation — "the industry [eating] itself," climate disasters, politics and the rise of AI. But she did name one force behind the instability. "This is all men's fault. Rich, white men to be specific," she said, drawing laughter from the audience.

"It is hard to feel like a powerful woman when men keep fucking everything up," she said.

She then shifted to a serious register, detailing her struggles and admitting that "it's hard to feel inspired when you feel helpless and useless."

As a writer, Rae said she experiences those feelings often. Yet she has learned to direct her energy toward the things she can control.

"I can decide who I'm around, who I work with, who I champion, who I invest in, whose stories I tell, who I platform, who I respond to," she said. "I can use the power I do have to pour into my little community to make sure whatever success I'm lucky enough to have doesn't stop with me."

Persistence anchored the speech. "Even when I'm tired, pissed off or deeply uninspired by what's happening around me, I can honestly say that nothing can stop me from trying to figure out where I can be useful," Rae said. "Because as discouraged as I may get, I'm never going to stop trying."

She closed with a call to action for the room: "Maybe that's all any of us can do — is just figure out where we have some power and use it the fuck for good, please. So that's what I'm going to do. I hope you guys do too."

Rae's screen credits span film and television. She appeared in Greta Gerwig's "Barbie" and Cord Jefferson's "American Fiction," led the "Black Mirror" episode "Hotel Reverie," and executive produced "A Black Lady Sketch Show." She voices Jessica Drew in Sony Pictures' "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" and Angela in the HBO Max series "Young Love."

Her producing work includes the 2023 film "Gray Matter," the HBO Max series "Rap Sh!t," which she executive produced, and "One of Them Days," starring Keke Palmer and SZA. Her next move returns her to HBO: she is set to write and executive produce an untitled comedy pilot described as a "male friendship show."