ABOUT JENJI:

American television writer and producer best known for "Weeds" and "Orange is the New Black".
Grew up in Beverly Hills in a Jewish family, all working in show business.
Father, Alan W. "Buz" Kohan: "King of Variety TV in his day"
Husband Christopher Noxon (Jewish convert), and 3 kids. All very religiously involved.
Her work is known to include characters with strong backgrounds of Judaism (Weeds) as well as other religions; all while maintaining comedic content.
Kohan's sense of humour pokes at the stereotypes surrounding all identities without going too far, making her an "equal opportunity offender":

"There are few sacred cows in her work. When it comes to getting laughs, all ethnic groups are fair games, not to mention potheads, narcissistic moms, old people and gangsters." (Martineau)

JENJI KOHAN

OITNB Origin

The inspiration for the hit Netflix original series actually comes from Piper Kerman's experience in incarceration, in which she wrote about in her memoir: "Orange Is The New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison."

Jenji Kohan bases her initial lead character, Piper Chapman off of Piper Kerman, and curates characters with rich backstories from descriptions of people that Kerman tells tales of her encounters with.

"Piper, an elite, well-educated urbanite must wrestle with the unfamiliarity of living with the less educated, rural Pennsatucky and her religiosity." (Shoemaker)

During interview, Kohan explains the ways she used Piper as her "Trojan horse;" To capture and hold the attention of the average, privileged viewer, Kohan lures in her audience with a familiar walk of life, in order to effectively share the stories of women of diverse social class, ethnicity, economic class, age, and religion.

"I wasn't inclined to formal prayer, but I was less skeptical about faith then I had been when I entered prison" (Kerman, pg.30)