Jonica T. Gibbs Is Reliving Lena Waithe’s Twenties

Dress and Gloves by Gucci. Bracelet by Chanel. Earrings and nose ring Jonica’s own.

Lena Waithe built her career on telling personal stories, so when it came time to cast the lead in Twenties, a new BET series loosely based on her own experience of breaking into Hollywood, she had to find the perfect avatar. Enter Jonica T. Gibbs, an openly gay comedian and a former substitute teacher who stars as Hattie, an aspiring TV writer navigating the complexities of life in Los Angeles with her two best friends. “One thing that I admire about Hattie is that we never highlight the fact that she’s a lesbian, because she’s already confident and secure in herself. When I was that age, I wasn’t in that position. My family didn’t know. I definitely felt like I was living a life that nobody knew about.”