ARTS
JOURNALISM
I've been writing professionally
for 20 years. In 1997, I began producing special reports for
my radio show on WTJZ. In 1998, I won the award for "Best
LIVE Radio Interview of the Year" from the Hampton Roads
Black Media Professionals (VA Chapter of NABJ) at their Echoes
of Excellence Awards Ceremony. I moved on to print journalism
at Ohio's oldest Black weekly newspaper, the Columbus
Call & Post, in 2000.
As the Franklin County Reporter, I covered community, business
and local and national politics.
THEN I was promoted to
Showtime Arts & Entertainment Editor, and a short
time later, to Interim Managing Editor. Once I started chosing
my own stories, covering the arts, and going to concerts and
movie premieres - for work...I was DONE with hard news! Advocacy
writing, which was steeped in racial profiling, predatory
lending, political gerrymandering and police brutality - had
totally burned me out.
I founded The Conscious Voice Magazine in 2006 in Columbus,
Ohio, to write about Midwest art & culture from a diversity
perspective. I wanted to tell those stories that were overlooked
or misinterpreted by mainstream media and were outside of
the scope of traditional news & entertainment coverage.
I fell in love with the
stories about artists of color and how they've persevered
through sometimes, very long journeys toward museum surveys,
acquisitions and art world inclusion. Interesting enough,
I found that artists consistently address ALL of the above
issues, in their art. So I'm still in advocacy news - but
with an arts focus. I'm inspired by the way art & design
moves us to TALK and bridge gaps that FOSTER understanding
between cultures. And can't we all use a little more history
and fashion in our diets? Yes, please! So I've been telling
THESE stories ever since! Here's a few.
|
