Jamil Smith

Editor-in-Chief

Jamil Smith is the editor-in-chief of The Emancipator. An incisive opinion writer, television producer, and cultural critic, Smith has primarily covered the intersection of politics, culture, and identity during his decades in media. He also co-hosted “One Year Later,” a limited radio series for KCRW, as well as several podcasts. In 2019, the New York City chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists awarded Smith its prize for arts reporting for his Time cover story about the film “Black Panther.” Prior to writing full-time for publications such as Rolling Stone and the Los Angeles Times, Smith earned three Sports Emmys while at NFL Films. He is a proud native of Cleveland, Ohio.

Cristal Balis

Special Projects | Marketing Lead

Cristal leads growth, marketing and operational initiatives that expand the reach and impact of The Emancipator platform. She brings more than 20 years experience in marketing communications, event production and development to the position, including work for The Walt Disney Company, Starcom Mediavest Group, Sony Pictures, The University of Chicago, Howard Brown Health Center and the AIDS Rides. Cristal graduated from the Missouri School of Journalism and has a master’s degree in instructional leadership from the University of Illinois Chicago.

Alex LaSalvia

Digital Producer

A journalist with a knack for getting in the weeds and going against the grain, Alex blends the roles of reporter and producer to ensure The Emancipator’s website and social channels stay on top of the news. Alex received his B.S. in journalism from Boston University, where they served as Vice Chair of The Daily Free Press’s board of directors and built the paper’s campus COVID-19 coverage from the ground up. His writing has appeared in the Boston Globe and GBH News. Alex’s other passions include baking, crocheting, and perfecting their latte art skills.

Melissa Clavijo

Social Media Producer

Melissa Clavijo is a bilingual journalist focused on social media content and audience strategy. She brings deep experience building engagement strategies and she’s passionate about creating innovative content through reporting, podcasting, and video. Her responsibilities at The Emancipator include organizing and creating content for all social media platforms, as well as developing audience growth strategies. She pursued her Journalism studies at Universidad San Francisco in Ecuador, and she completed a M.S. in Media Innovation and Data Communication at Northeastern University. In 2020 she became a founding member of the Observatory of Ecuadorian Media, a project funded by the United States Embassy that analyzed the impact of disinformation among news outlets. Melissa’s interests are also music, painting, and embroidery.

Tami Nguyen

Video Journalist

Tami Nguyen is a seasoned multimedia producer, videographer, and broadcast camera operator based on the East Coast. With over a decade of experience in social media and content creation, Tami’s passion for storytelling has propelled her to work on diverse projects, from national book tours for New York Times bestsellers to the grand stage of the NBA Finals. Her portfolio includes collaborations with Netflix, ESPN, Apple, Live Nation, and iHeartRadio, as well as esteemed local institutions like the Boston Bruins, Boston Celtics, Boston Red Sox, Boston College, and Boston University. Beyond her expertise in production, Tami is experienced in website management, social media strategy, and media relations. Tami received her B.S. in film and television from Boston University, where she honed her skills in live event production.

Ibram X. Kendi

Co-founder of The Emancipator, Dr. Ibram X. Kendi is a National Book Award-winning author of sixteen books for adults and children, including nine New York Times bestsellers—five of which were #1 New York Times bestsellers. Dr. Kendi is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Boston University, and the director of the BU Center for Antiracist Research. More by Ibram X. Kendi

Bina Venkataraman

Co-founder of The Emancipator, Bina Venkataraman is The Washington Post’s inaugural columnist of the future. From 2019-2022, she served as editorial page editor of The Boston Globe, leading its editorial board and overseeing its Opinion section. She previously taught in MIT’s program on science, technology, and society; directed policy initiatives at the Broad Institute of Harvard & MIT; and served as senior advisor for climate change innovation in the Obama White House. She is the author of “The Optimist’s Telescope: Thinking Ahead in a Reckless Age.” More by Bina Venkataraman

Sunny Bates

Sunny Bates is the founder and master connector of her own organization which has focused on the people and the ideas that are shaping the future. She operates wherever executives, thinkers, artists, creators, innovators, and entrepreneurs connect and collide around the globe. Her client roster has included organizations as diverse as BlackRock, Priceline, GE, Inflection AI , System, and many others. She is an advisory board member for LabX, Genomes2People, TED Brain Trust, Hai.ai, MIT Media Lab, Pioneer Works, and Human Immunome Project , where she chairs their Futures Council. She sits on the board of directors of Around the World in 80 Fabrics and Kickstarter, of which she is a founding board member.

Sewell Chan

Sewell Chan is editor in chief of The Texas Tribune and a former editor at the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times. Chan is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Pacific Council on International Policy, and PEN America, which defends free expression. He serves on the boards of the News Leaders Association, Freedom House, and the First Amendment Coalition. More by Sewell Chan

Jelani Cobb

(Ex-Officio) Jelani Cobb has been contributing to The New Yorker since 2012 and became a staff writer in 2015. He writes frequently about race, politics, history, and culture. His most recent book is “The Substance of Hope: Barack Obama and the Paradox of Progress.” He won the 2015 Sidney Hillman Prize for Opinion and Analysis Journalism for his columns on race, the police, and injustice. He teaches at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.

Deborah D. Douglas

Deborah D. Douglas is a founding co-editor-in-chief of the Emancipator. Currently director of the Midwest Solutions Journalism Hub at Northwestern and a senior lecturer, she has served as the Eugene S. Pulliam Distinguished Visiting Professor of Journalism at DePauw University; senior leader at The OpEd Project, which amplifies underrepresented expert voices; and founding managing editor of MLK50: Justice Through Journalism. Douglas is author of U.S. Civil Rights Trail: A Traveler’s Guide to the People, Places, and Events That Made the Movement and a contributor to the New York Times bestselling Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619–2019. More by Deborah D. Douglas

Eddie S. Glaude, Jr.

Eddie S. Glaude Jr. is the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor and chair of African American Studies at Princeton University. Glaude is the author of “Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul” and, most recently, “Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own.” Glaude is also a columnist for Time magazine and a regular contributor on MSNBC.

Annette Gordon-Reed

Annette Gordon-Reed is the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard. Gordon-Reed won 16 book prizes, including the Pulitzer Prize in History in 2009 and the National Book Award in 2008, for “The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family” (W.W. Norton, 2008).

Nikole Hannah-Jones

Nikole Hannah-Jones is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter covering racial injustice for The New York Times Magazine and creator of the landmark 1619 Project, , now a Hulu original docuseries. Nikole’s essay, “Our Democracy’s founding ideals were false when they were written. Black Americans have fought to make them true,” was awarded the 2020 Pulitzer Prize. Nikole has also written extensively about school resegregation across the country and chronicled the decades-long failure of the federal government to enforce the landmark 1968 Fair Housing Act.

Peniel Joseph

Peniel E. Joseph is the Barbara Jordan Chair in Ethics and Political Values at the LBJ School of Public Affairs and professor of history and the founding director of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a frequent national commentator on issues of antiracism, democracy and civil rights. Joseph’s most recent book is, “The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.” More by Peniel Joseph

S. Mitra Kalita

S. Mitra Kalita is the co-founder of a new media company called URL Media, a network of Black and Brown owned media organizations that share content, distribution and revenues to increase their long-term sustainability. She is also the publisher of Epicenter-NYC, a newsletter to help New Yorkers get through the pandemic. Mitra was most recently SVP at CNN Digital, overseeing the national news, breaking news, programming, opinion and features teams. More by S. Mitra Kalita

Ian F. Haney López

Ian Haney López is the Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Public Law at the University of California, Berkeley. For the last decade, he has focused on the use of racism as a class weapon in electoral politics and on how to respond. He has published four books and two anthologies; has been a visiting professor at Stanford, Yale and Harvard; and created the Race-Class Academy.

Heather McGhee

Heather C. McGhee is a trustee emeritus on the board of Demos, where she previously served as president from 2014 to 2018. Her opinions, writing, and research have appeared in numerous outlets, including The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Politico, and National Public Radio. McGhee is the recipient of multiple awards recognizing her leadership in social change and is the author of “The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together.”

Julian Brave Noisecat

Julian Brave NoiseCat’s work cuts across the fields of journalism, policy, research, art, activism, and advocacy, often engaging multiple disciplines at once. NoiseCat is the vice president of policy and strategy with Data for Progress, the Narrative Change director of the Natural History Museum, and a fellow at the Type Media Center, NDN Collective, and the Center for Humans and Nature.

Emily Ramshaw

Emily Ramshaw is the cofounder and CEO of The 19th, an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics, and policy. She was previously editor in chief of The Texas Tribune, an award-winning nonpartisan digital news startup. She serves on the board of the Pulitzer Prize.

Joy Ann-Reid

Joy-Ann Reid is a political analyst for MSNBC and host of “The ReidOut.” She is the author of The New York Times bestseller “The Man Who Sold America: Trump and the Unraveling of the American Story.” (Harper Collins, 2019) She has worked in local and national TV news, talk radio, and as a press secretary during two presidential campaigns, including Barack Obama’s Florida campaign in 2008.

Jose Antonio Vargas

Jose Antonio Vargas is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Emmy-nominated filmmaker, and Tony-nominated producer. He’s the founder of the nonprofit media advocacy organization Define American. He is the author of “Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen” and his second book, “White Is Not a Country” will be published in 2023.