Last week, Saturday Night Live (SNL) announced its newest cast members and one young comedian in particular got our attention: Nigerian-American actress and comedian Ego Nwodim.

The comedian has landed a coveted spot on the storied variety show, which has helped jumpstart the careers of many legendary comedians. Her addition is significant as the show has often drawn criticism for its mostly white cast. Nwodim follows in the footsteps of folks like Yvonne Hudson—the first black woman to join the cast in 1980, Maya Rudolph and Leslie Jones.

Prior to joining the cast, the Baltimore-born talent, was honing her comedic chops as a regular at the improvisational theatre and training center the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (UCB) in Los Angeles, where she created the highly relatable one-woman show "Great Black Women…and Then There's Me." She decided to pursue comedy fully, only after earning a degree in biology from the University of Southern California—how very Nigerian of her, am I right?