Waithe gained recognition for her role in the Netflix comedy-drama series "Master of None" (2015–present) and became the first black woman to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series in 2017 for writing the show's "Thanksgiving" episode, which was loosely based on her personal experience of coming out to her mother. She has also appeared in Steven Spielberg's 2018 adventure film "Ready Player One" and the HBO series "Westworld".