By Dodai Stewart Photographs by Winnie Au
Mara Brock Akil’s New York City apartment is not a pied-à-terre, or a second home, or a crash pad. It is a carefully composed space for the focused work of a visually inspired artisan.
“I treat it as a writing studio,” Ms. Brock Akil said of the condo on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. “When I come here, I lock in.”
Ms. Brock Akil, 55, began her career as a television writer and producer in Los Angeles, writing for “South Central” and “Moesha” before creating “Girlfriends,” “The Game,” and “Being Mary Jane.” About six years ago, she bought the apartment to anchor her in New York as well.
“Forever,” the Netflix television series Ms. Brock Akil created as an adaptation of the Judy Blume novel, was written at the apartment’s marble dining table. From the table’s sixth-floor perch in a sun-drenched corner of the building, Ms. Brock Akil can see One World Trade Center and the Empire State Building — as well as the yard of the public school across the street. “I love hearing the kids out there,” said
