Experience

theGrio

• United States
• Online Audio and Video Media
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Columnist/Podcaster

  • Jan 2022 - Present

  *Writes original content both lengthy and reactive—largely about pop culture, race, family and foolywang—intended to catalog and archive the culture of African America *Provides commentary via the 'Dear Culture with Panama Jackson' podcast about topics central to various facets of the Black Experience—guests including Van Lathan, Anthony Anderson *Puts his lifetime in between the paper's lines *Writes original content both lengthy and reactive—largely about pop culture, race, family and foolywang—intended to catalog and archive the culture of African America *Provides commentary via the 'Dear Culture with Panama Jackson' podcast about topics central to various facets of the Black Experience—guests including Van Lathan, Anthony Anderson *Puts his lifetime in between the paper's lines



TheRoot

• Senior Editor/VerySmartBrothas at TheRoot.com

  • Aug 2017 - Dec 2021

  *Co-founded VerySmartBrothas.com in March 2008 with Damon Young and Liz Burr; the site was acquired by Univision for TheRoot.com in July 2017 *Oversees editorial content and calendar for VerySmartBrothas vertical of TheRoot.com *Provides lengthy and/or quick-turnaround original editorial content typically about pop culture, race, hip-hop, movies and television while also procuring freelancers and utilizing the vast network built over the years to write innovative and creative pieces that impact cultural conversations in real time *Initiates and executes larger projects directly related to identity, culture and institutions: **The Black Mainstream (July 2021) - a weeklong editorial, art and video series highlighting cultural institutions that are largely known and celebrated by the Black community **28 Days of Literary Blackness (February 2019)- a month-long series where each day a new book by a Black author was profiled; see also 28 Days of Album Cover Blackness, 30 Days of Iconic Music Video Blackness **HBCU Week (October 2017) - to coincide with homecomings at Historically Black colleges and/or universities, essayists from 15 different HBCUs wrote essays about their experience on campus **America. In Black. (weekly series in 2019) - a weekly essay series about the unique and individual experiences of Black people in America **Quiet Storm (August 2020)- a two-week series about mental health that featured various authors writing about their own experiences and journeys with mental health issues *Co-authored the book, Your Degrees Won’t Keep You Warm at Night: The Very Smart Brothas Guide to Dating, Mating and Fighting Crime with VerySmartBrothas co-founder, Damon Young, in 2011 *Featured speaker on topics ranging from race and identity to pop culture over twenty colleges, universities and companies including, but not limited to, Morehouse College, Harvard University, UC-Berkeley, Yale University, Princeton University, Google and Booz Allen Hamilton Show less