07/21/2026
What I've been up to...
From Online Diaries to Hollywood: Angela Nissel Celebrates 25 Years of Storytelling
Angela shares candid, funny stories about money, college, and survival online before blogging and social media became mainstream. Twenty-five years later, her voice has carried her from The Broke Diaries into Hollywood writers’ rooms and back to memoir with Good Grief, Pass the Bread, Mom Is Dead.
For more than two decades, Angela has brought her distinctive blend of humor, honesty, and cultural insight to television series including Scrubs, The Boondocks, Mixed-ish, Ginny & Georgia, and The Other Black Girl. Before launching her television career, she co-founded Okayplayer alongside Questlove, helping to build one of the internet’s earliest and most influential Black music and culture communities.
In 2026, Angela celebrates the 25th anniversary of her groundbreaking debut, The Broke Diaries. Created from the online journal she began while navigating college life with very little money, the book became a national bestseller and helped usher in a new era of candid, comedic personal storytelling on the internet.
Born and raised in Philadelphia and a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Angela has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, 20/20, and NPR’s Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!. Her work across books, television, and digital media explores family, identity, grief, money, mental health, and the complicated art of surviving life with your sense of humor intact.
That creates a lively, layered conversation about:
Becoming an accidental internet storyteller before the influencer era
What The Broke Diaries still says about student finances and the cost of getting by
Writing comedy for iconic television shows as a Black woman in Hollywood
Using humor to talk about grief, caregiving, mental health, and complicated family relationships
What Angela has learned across 25 years of writing her life in public.
Tune-in tomorrow Wed at 11:15am PT GDLA+ (Good Day LA)
Pop-in Saturday at 2pm The Mom-Up Shop in Long Beach. I love vintage clothing and books together.
