Veteran television writer and producer Yolonda E. Lawrence, who worked on such series as Empire, Riverdale, Bel-Air and The Good Wife among many others, has died. Lawrence passed away unexpectedly on Oct. 10 in Los Angeles, her agency CAA confirmed. She was 56.

Born and raised in Brooklyn’s Prospect Heights neighborhood, Lawrence discovered her passion for television writing after attending a taping of The Cosby Show with her mother.

Shortly after graduation from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications in 1991, Lawrence moved to Los Angeles where she began her career as a production assistant and coordinator in shows including The Crew, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Relativity , and 413 Hope Street . Her big break came when she began assisting showrunners

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