With Her New Book, Small Doses, Get to Know 10 Times Amanda Seales Lifted the Culture
Amanda Seales is best known for her role in Insecure on HBO, but she’s been in the entertainment game for a while now and pretty much slays at everything from art, comedy, spoken word and rap to acting and singing.
Seales was born in Inglewood, California, and attended high school in Orlando, Florida. She is a former MTV VJ with a master’s in African American studies from Columbia University with a concentration in Hip Hop. She is a series regular as Tiffany on HBO’s Insecure, has guest-starred on Blackish, has performed stand up on Late Night with Seth Meyers and opened for Chris Rock. She is also creator/host of LA’s hit comedy game show, Smart Funny & Black at The Roxy and she was the host of NBC’s comedy talent show Bring the Funny. Seales added one more crown to her natural, as an author, with her new book, Small Doses, which gives you a glimpse into the life of this phenomenal artist.
Seales was just in the news recently when she was refused access to a “Black Hollywood” Emmy party. It had many scratching their heads on why any black person in Hollywood would try and ostracize someone that is clearly a current fixture of that space. Amanda spoke up about the interaction, and some labeled her as difficult. Amanda is anything but that. Speaking up on something that seems unfair, doesn’t make one difficult, it makes you outspoken. Seales is a staple of black American culture, so it’s odd to see someone claiming black American culture as their own with a “Black Hollywood” Emmy party, but then creating divisions. While we don’t know all of the specifics, it still seemed odd that Seales’ costars partied inside while she was left fending for herself without access. Some party-goers were trying to get her entrance, but she was then accosted by multiple security guards demanding that she leave. Seales has been relentless in uplifting Black American culture, dropping knowledge on our history, and celebrating that culture all while being smart, fresh, and current.
Despite the recent press, nothing is holding back Amanda Seales’ shine. Let’s open the vaults to see some of the hidden gems that make up the fantastic resume of Ms. Seales.
#1 She is both African American and Grenadian. Her video below shows her pride in celebrating her mother’s roots in Grenada. She makes some caparisons to how Harlem is not that different from the small island she spent holidays on with her family.
#2 She’s done a ton of spoken word and rap, including performing with Q Tip and many other rappers. The girl has flow.
#3 She drops knowledge on her podcast’ Small Doses, which has guests like Lauren London, Fab 5 Freddy, and Raphael Sadiq. She tackles topics like money, haters, ambitions, passive-aggressiveness, microaggressions, and ‘cancel culture.’
#4 She can ‘sang.’ Amanda is no stranger to singing and has quite a few songs under the stage name Amanda Diva. She also briefly took a spot in the duo Floetry when the original members had split. Below she is challenged by someone in the audience that she couldn’t sing, “Change Gon Come,” in which she quickly dropped it acapella. As Nene would say, “Bloop.”
Check out her recent 2019 video for her song, NI**AS GOT ME F*d UP.
#5 Her stand-up comedy special Amanda Seales: I Be Knowin‘ debuted in January exclusively on HBO.
#6 She didn’t hold back on her recent visit to The Breakfast Club, where she addresses her issues at the “Black Hollywood” Emmy party and how the beef that one person had with her isn’t going to stop her grind. She also talks about her new book.
#7 She encourages women to speak up and speak out to get what they want.
#8 She will most certainly shut you down on national TV when necessary.
#9 She gives excellent advice on men.
#10 She dropped an amazing book that can help people live their truth, full of dope ‘doses’ and cool art. Make sure to check out Amanda on her podcast or HBO, and be sure to pick up her new book, Small Doses here.
Award-Winning Publisher, Writer, Critic + Journalist || Tweet me @nikkifowler28
