The hip-hop generation has produced amazingly talented artists, really innovative fashion trends and truly deathless catch phrases like “bling bling.” But it’s also given rise to a new cadre of intellectuals, like Dr. Marc Lamont Hill. As a Columbia University professor, host of Our World with Black Enterprise, and frequent TV commentator, he’s outspoken, progressive and lambasted by conservative opponents as much as he’s lauded by the every man and woman he seeks to represent. If you’ve never watched Hill topple the audacity of an outspoken talk show guest or lend a keep-it-real angle to a conversation with the upper echelons of punditry, you’re missing him in his element.

Hill’s mission to give voice to the voiceless isn’t without its controversy, though. In 2009, he was fired from Fox News after taking heat for sympathizing with figures like Assata Shakur and Mumia Abu-Jamal. Par for the course, he now says.

“When I walk around and see Occupy Philadelphia, and I’m seeing flash mobbing used in a positive way in digital media and I’m seeing the Trayvon Martin controversy being played out not just on the street but on Twitter, I think our generation has created a new mode of action,” Hill says, “and I’m proud of that movement.”

Name: Marc Lamont Hill
Position: Academic, commentator, journalist, author and activist
Resume: Associate professor of education at Columbia University’s Teachers College and teacher of African American Studies at the Institute for Research in African American Studies. Host of syndicated show Our World with Black Enterprise, airing in 145 markets. Author of Beats, Rhymes, and Classroom Life: Hip-Hop Pedagogy and Politics of Identity and co-editor of Media, Learning, and Sites of Possibility and The Anthropology of Education Reader. Currently working on book about the death of black-owned bookstores. Columnist and editor-at-large at the Philadelphia Daily News.
Birthday: December 17
Hometown: Philadelphia
Education: Started undergrad studies at Morehouse College, but finished with B.S. in education and Spanish from Temple University. Ph.D. with distinction from University of Pennsylvania.
Marital status: Single
Favorite TV show: The Wire
Guilty pleasure: Ignorant hip-hop
Media idol: Ed Bradley
Last book read: Baratunde Thurston’s satire/memoir, How to Be Black
Twitter handle: @marclamonthill

Universities often require professors to do their own research and studies for academic journals. Are there any recent news stories you’ve covered that have sparked ideas for your own research or books?
I wrestle with everyday issues in my media work, so I’m thinking, “How does this affect people on the ground? How does this connect to what people are doing in the community? What kind of questions are being raised?” For example, Hue-Man Book Stores, one of the major black bookstores in Harlem, just closed. There’s a great journalistic story there but there’s also a story, I think, that connects to my academic interests in literacy, public space, identity and political economy. I grew up in a neighborhood where bookstores taught me what it meant to be young and black and male in the age of crack. That shit mattered. So I’m writing a book right now called Knowledge of Self that looks at the role of the black literary counterpublic, the space where literature is at the center of resistance work.

Considering that your views are liberal and Fox News is conservative, why did you want to work for the network in the first place? What were you looking to accomplish?
I wanted to be a public defender. I wanted to intervene; they were having a singular conversation about the world that millions and millions of people were listening to. I wanted to offer a perspective that was reasonable, informed and humane. I wasn’t trying to convince Sean Hannity or Glenn Beck that I was right and they were wrong. They don’t think that way. They’re too stubborn to even consider another possibility. My goal was to convince the millions of people watching Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck that there was another way to think about the world. So, I walk down the street and people say, “I watch you on Fox News. I don’t always agree with what you say, but you made me think about immigration differently, or you made me think about voter IDs differently.” That was the game changer for me.

So how do you process through criticism? You get plenty of it.
If you’re going to be in the public eye, you’re going to get beat up. But, if your goal is freedom or justice or moving the ball forward, that’s the price you pay. It’s about shaking off the mean-spirited stuff and really listening to what people are saying, because even if you ultimately don’t agree with the critique, you still can understand where people are coming from. Just because somebody says it from the opposite side doesn’t mean they’re wrong.

Joe Williams recently left Politico for comments he made on MSNBC that Mitt Romney was more comfortable around “white folks.” What do you think of Williams’ statement, and do you think he should have left the publication?
I think there has to be space for conversation. I’m very protective of people’s rights to say what they want to say, even if they disagree. I think when we do that, we shrink the space for dialogue, and I think that’s a very dangerous practice — a very, very, very dangerous practice. We must engage each other and ideas, even the unpopular ones that make us uncomfortable. On top of that, we have to determine what’s true, because sometimes things that may feel culturally untoward are still right, and we just have to deal with some uncomfortable truths. When it comes to this race talk stuff, people get real uneasy. They’re like, “Oh, I don’t really like talking about race.” But we have to.

That leads me to my next question: How can journalists have an intelligent conversation about race without offending people? Or, does the inherent divisive nature of the subject make that impossible?
The prevailing ideology in this country is that colorblindness is our goal. That’s what we’re supposed to be aspiring to. The mere identification of race and racial difference can prompt us to be accused of racism. The problem is everyone is so quick to call someone a racist or to be called a racist that they want nothing further to do with the conversation. I should be able to have a conversation about race with a white person and say, ‘Here’s how what you said is problematic. Here’s how what you do reinforces racism,’ without them becoming defensive. As journalists, we have to model that kind of conversation without being reductive or antagonistic or offensive or defensive. But there are some painful truths.

The reality is if you’re white in America and you’ve benefitted from white supremacy for the last 400 years, you might be uncomfortable when I talk about unmerited gains or social racism. But you being uncomfortable doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Just because I say something you don’t like doesn’t mean that I’m wrong and it doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be said. Lastly, white people have to take ownership of this project, too. It can’t just be black people talking about race and racism. White folks have to take some ownership, too, because if they don’t, then it’s always a marginal conversation.

You’ve also been named a host-producer for HuffPost Live’s Shadow Conventions, which will run alongside the Democratic and Republic National Conventions this year. What do you have in store for the conversations and panels you’re organizing? How will they differ from what viewers get from cable TV coverage?
We’re not just going to talk about what’s in the news. We’re not just going to respond to talking points. We’re going to talk about bigger, deeper issues and we’re also going to talk about things that aren’t on the table. Poor people aren’t on the table. Prisoners aren’t on the table. LGBT brothers and sisters aren’t on the table. My goal is to have a conversation that gets at every bit of that.

Knowing the limitations of TV and the propensity toward sound bites, how do you get your opinion out concisely without making a gaffe you’ll later regret? What research do you do on your “sparring partner” beforehand?
I read a lot, and I try to understand all sides of an argument, so I don’t come out as a wing nut or as an overly strident person. If you consistently do that, then when you’re approached with today’s news, you’re not just reactionary. You’re situating that news item in a broader and deeper conversation. If you’re on TV every day, you’re going to say something you regret. There’s no way around it. I don’t say everything that comes to my head, but I try to answer questions honestly and with genuine respect for who I’m debating, even if I think they’re wrong. I care about them, too. When you do that, then you’re less likely to have that hominem attack because I ain’t calling nobody an idiot. I ain’t talking about nobody’s mama. I’m talking about these issues. And if I do that, then it’s kind of awkward to get too personal. So everything I say, I really believe.

NEXT >> So What Do You Do, Roland Martin, CNN Contributor and Host of TV One’s Washington Watch?

Janelle Harris is a freelance writer in Washington, D.C. She documents her editorial adventures at www.thewriteordiechick.com.

In the hands of Richard Lawson, the online TV recap takes on an almost Shakesperian quality. The rebellious daughter of a New Jersey Housewife becomes “Bouffant,” a star of the New York franchise turns into a cicada, and Ryan Seacrest? He’s secretly in love with (or being haunted by the corpse of) an ousted Idol contestant.
At one point, his posts for Gawker were racking up a whopping 2.4 million page views a month, making him the most popular scribe at the site.

It all started when Lawson was working in Gawker’s ad sales department and began anonymously commenting to stories during his off hours; he was outed when The New York Times tracked him down for a story about blog commenters. “They interviewed me for it and I sort of revealed myself. I was already there on the payroll, and the Gawker editors were kind of tickled by it,” he remembers. “So, they had me do a weekly post for the site where I would award little stars to the best comments of the week.”

Eight months later, Lawson was using his theater background to write full-time, an overnight success story by editorial standards. Now at The Atlantic Wire, Lawson says he’s taking news a little more seriously but always keeping that sense of snark in his arsenal. Just in case.

Position: Senior writer for The Atlantic Wire
Resume: Staff writer for Gawker (2008-2011), staff writer for TV.com (2009), senior writer for The Atlantic Wire
Birthday: May 31, 1983
Hometown: Boston
Education: Bachelor’s in theatre and English from Boston College
Marital status: Single
Favorite TV shows: Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones and House Hunters (foreign and domestic)
Guilty pleasure: “I don’t really have one. I think everything has value. Like, I love Mad Men but I also, for some reason, have watched every episode of Once Upon a Time, ABC’s fairy tale show. That’s a secret but I guess it’s out now.”
Last book read: A Thousand Lives by Julia Scheeres
Twitter handle: @rilaws

Did you intend to get hired at Gawker or was it just a stroke of good luck?
I’d always written as a student, and I had no ambitions to write for the Internet because I wasn’t that savvy at the time. But once I started working for the company and reading the site, I realized it’s a fun, interesting form of writing. The commenting was just a free space to react to news, but, at a site like Gawker, I was able to be kind of creative and a little silly in my comments. It felt like little bouts of writing workshop-y things, and it was an opportunity to write without much consequence.

Would you encourage unemployed folks or recent grads to find similarly unconventional ways to get jobs?
When I was commenting on Gawker, it was a certain moment in time for that site. There was a pretty small amount of commenters, so it was kind of communal. The site has gotten a lot bigger, but if you can find another like it with a really engaged commenter community, it’s a good way to get to know the people who are writing for the site. Those are connections that are always worth having. I think basically the trick is whether you’re commenting, have a Tumblr or Twitter, or whatever it is, the more you interact with people you’d like to be your peers, the more you’ll become their peer. You’re basically putting your name out there so they know who you are.

You often take a germ of a real plotline and turn it into literature. How did you come up with your style and what’s your writing process like?
I wanted a space to be more creative. Writing news stories was something I learned to do over time, but it was never quite a perfect fit for me. I mean, I’m still doing it, but I also want to write fiction and stuff like that. So, I like to write the recaps because if you’re not breaking any news, it’s OK to kind of be weird with it. Everyone’s presumably watched the episode. I figured it was a good space to do that sort of wandering a bit. The style is inspired by randomness. A guy who lives in Houston has a series of YouTube videos where he’s narrating the entire first Harry Potter movie. He doesn’t stick to the plot at all. He does all kinds of crazy, silly things, but really creative and well-worded. I had been listening to that around that time, winter ’08. So it’s like if he can do this for the Harry Potter movies, like craft this whole other extra narrative, then why can’t I do it for Gossip Girl or Real Housewives?

The Atlantic is known more for its serious, long-form pieces, not the fluff of reality TV. Why did you decide to leave Gawker and why The Atlantic?
It’s the Atlantic Wire, their news blog, so the format is kind of familiar, kind of blog site posts. But I’m also with one of my old Gawker editors who I’ve always worked well with. I think, like you said, it’s known to be a little more serious but, after a while, the Gawker snark — for lack of a less heavy word — can get a bit tiring. I think it’s great and I think it has its place, but I felt like I wanted to be a little more mature, I guess. I love all of the writing at Gawker still, but just for myself, I’m getting a chance to do more serious movie reviews and stuff I think wouldn’t have necessarily played out well on Gawker. So, yes, it just seemed like a new, different opportunity. The cool benefits of working on the lighter [side] are the various opportunities that pop up. You can kind of jump around a bit and experiment with styles and formats, and I think I was ready to make one of those jumps.

Since your recaps are so colorful, have you ever thought of just becoming a TV writer?
Yes. Coming from a playwright background, dramatic playwriting is in my mind somewhere. I’ve had a couple nibbles of interest here and there, and I’ve submitted a few things here and there, but it’s a very different style of writing, obviously, and I don’t quite feel I have the sort of hustle required right now. But somewhere down the road, if I got inspired and wrote some pilot script or something, I would love someone to read it. To have a TV show on the air would be amazing.

There are countless entertainment blogs and a lot of pop culture content online, but very few stand out. What do you think most entertainment writers or aspiring recappers do wrong?
I think there can be a tendency to kind of carry the party line. I think that once an opinion is formed about a certain culture property, it’s easy to jump onto that. I’m not saying be contrary for contrarianism’s sake, but take, for example, HBO’s Girls. A lot of people just right off the bat decided together that it was going to be this one narrative about it and it was kind of offensive. In truth, if you watch the show without listening to all that noise, it’s quite different. So, in general, I think the best thing to do is not be afraid to have your own opinion. Seek out new angles and new jokes. I think we start to make fun of the same thing in the same way. I see the same joke kind of repeated across all of these websites, so try to tweak the thinking and you’ll certainly stand out.

It’s been over 10 years since CBS debuted Survivor and over 20 since MTV launched The Real World. Do you think reality TV is here to stay?
Yes, I definitely think it’s here to stay. I think it’s just going to continue to take on different forms. Obviously Survivor is still going, but they’ve had to modify as they go. I think we’re probably past the era of all of that VH1 celeb-reality stuff with Rock of Love and I Love New York, which were fun and had their moments. For whatever reasons, people seem more focused on other iterations of the genre. There are all of these shows now about people working and people making things. We still have the Kardashians, but I think reality viewers are getting smarter and more serious.

NEXT >> So What Do You Do, Jonathan Murray, Father of Reality TV?

Janelle Harris is a freelance writer in Washington, D.C. She documents her editorial adventures at www.thewriteordiechick.com.

If you were a girl growing up in the late 80s and early 90s, you likely had a wall full of New Kids on the Block posters, an assortment of Bonne Bell Lip Smackers in your Caboodle, and stacks of Sassy mags that you flipped through regularly. After high school graduation, you probably graduated to Jane magazine, too. For the latter two, you can thank Jane Pratt, who founded both publications to create a filter-free reflection of the experiences, interests and sentiments of young and young-minded women.

Pratt has a reputation for saying out loud what conservative folks don’t feel comfortable thinking by accident, and time hasn’t dulled her signature penchant for rawness. In fact, when coupled with the freedom of the online space, she’s turned her newest venture, xojane.com, into a platform for every facet of real-life womanhood, from flatulence to fatness. Here, she talks about how she made a career of keeping it (too) real.

Name: Jane Pratt
Position: Editor-in-chief of xojane.com
Resume: Interned at Rolling Stone and the now-defunct Sportstyle before graduating from college. Hired as assistant editor at McCall‘s and transitioned to associate editor of Teenage. Founded Sassy in 1988 at the age of 24 and sold it to Peterson Publishing in 1994. Launched Jane, a lifestyle magazine for 18- to 34-year-old women, just three years later. Left that publication in 2005 and went on to host talk shows on Fox and Lifetime. Founded xojane.com in 2011. Author of For Real: The Uncensored Truth About America’s Teenagers and Beyond Beauty: Girls Speak Out on Looks, Style and Stereotypes.
Birthdate: November 11, 1962
Hometown: Durham, N.C.
Education: Bachelor’s degree in communications from Oberlin College
Marital status: Single
Media idol: “Somewhere between Oprah and Gloria Steinem”
Guilty pleasure: Really bad pop music
Favorite TV shows: Dance Moms, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and “documentaries on just about anything”
Twitter handle: @janepratt

Why did you decide to sell Sassy and then, just three years later, found Jane?
I was hearing from more and more Sassy readers who felt like there wasn’t anything for them to graduate into. They felt they were a little old for the teen material in Sassy, but there was nothing out there treating them intelligently and talking about the things that they cared about. So, I made a magazine for the next age group up. The company I was working with at the time wasn’t able to start it, so I left Sassy to launch Jane. It took a few years before it got off the ground.

What expectations did you have of the buyers you chose, and how do you let go of your own vision for a brand when someone else takes over?
I had a very strong vision for it and I was able to find a good partner in Fairchild, which was eventually bought by Conde Nast. They shared the vision, because they were such a strong fashion company, with W and with other publications. They were also able to bring a lot to the table on the ad sales side with fashion brands and working on the aesthetic of the magazine.

You’ve built magazines from the ground-up. What was your biggest challenge then, and what do you think the biggest challenge to launching a print publication is now?
Let’s see. The biggest challenge then was that there were so many titles. People would say, “We already have Seventeen and Teen and Young Ms., as it was called at the time, and Tiger Beat and Bop.” They would list all of these magazines and say, “Why do we need another title?” The same thing when I started Jane. They would say, “We have Mademoiselle, Glamour, Cosmo…” So, the biggest challenge was articulating to people on the business side what the differences would be and why people were going to want this magazine in addition to what was already out there. I think now it’s a little bit of a different problem, because the number of titles is diminishing and going further that way, so it’s about proving why you need a print publication at all, why you can’t just do it online.

You have a reputation for being a “teller” — tell it like it is, tell all your own business, tell people about themselves. How has that honesty come across as an editor, and how have you leveraged the truth without being offensive?
Well, I think that the not being offensive part comes from having grown up in the South. I think that you learn a way of saying things — saying what you want to say — that doesn’t offend people or turn people off. I hope, anyway. But some people would say that I am offensive, some of the types of things that I’ve printed in Sassy and Jane and now xoJane.

Cat Marnell regularly wrote about her own drug use on xoJane.com. What made you hire her, and what do you say to those who think you just encouraged her addiction by paying her to write about it?
I was definitely doing everything I could to get her into rehab, which she did do, and encouraging her to get better for herself. But I don’t think that her writing about it is what made her do it. I think it’s a lot deeper than that, and writing about it was cathartic for her and helpful to other women who were going through that. Men have written about it before, their own drug abuse while they’re still abusing the drug. But for women, it was always something they could only write about only after they were no longer using. I felt like it was important to tell that story; she wanted to do that. But there was a lot behind the scenes that people don’t know about, and that’s why she’s not at xoJane anymore. But I hope she’ll get cleaned up and be able to do stuff with us again.

At SXSW, you boldly spoke about the myths traditional media has been feeding us. For those who weren’t able to attend, can you give us a sampling of what those myths are?
There are so many. One of them is about numbers and how people will suggest to advertisers that they have a certain number of readers per month when they’re counting pass-along readers, and they don’t really know how active their readers are. They know how many subscriber copies are going out and that kind of thing. Online, you really know almost everything about what your readers are reading, what they’re responding to. But I actually hope to take that a step further because I think there are ways, even online, to measure engagement even more closely than it is now. I suggested that if you could measure how hard somebody was pounding on the keyboard when they were leaving a comment, then you could get a sense of how passionate they were about the response they were leaving instead of just the number of comments.

Another thing, though, is that it still amazes me that a lot of women’s magazines in particular will use this magazine speak, this terminology. Like instead of saying “your hair,” they’ll say “your mane” or “your tresses.” And I always feel like if someone says “your lackluster tresses” instead of “your dirty hair,” you feel like they’re not telling you the whole truth. I feel like that makes you as a reader say, “Well, if they’re lying to me about that, what else are they lying to me about?”

While print publications are struggling, online pubs aren’t necessarily reeling in the dough, either. What’s your monetization strategy for xoJane?
Fortunately, the parent company behind xoJane is a company called Say Media. Their motto is to sell ads on the site and particularly focus on engagement. So, rather than just selling the number of eyeballs on the site, they’ll sell how long people are spending when they’re on the site and other metrics that show how devoted our readership is. That works really well for me, because that’s what I really like to do also, not just put up content that gets quick hits and a bunch of people to come one time but maybe not come back. I like to really build a community, so that’s how we’re doing it. The other thing is, with xoVain, which is a beauty spin-off we just launched a couple of weeks ago, we’re also doing something I wanted to do since xoJane launched, which is sell products through the site. I really do feel like e-commerce and the revenue that comes through that is going to be the future, even beyond advertising revenue.

What’s missing from women’s publications nowadays? Whose voice do you feel is still unheard?
The really raw, honest, quirky voices that you get when you read people’s blogs are still not represented in print. And I think that’s because the editing process that goes into print still is about polishing to the point where you lose some of that individuality that you get from blogs. The other thing I feel is missing is a publication for women 35-plus that treats them as the cool, interesting, vital people that they are and the superficial beings that they are too, that focuses on the selfish side of being a woman that age and not how to take care of your kids or bake for your grandkids or whatever. I’d like to see that.

NEXT >> So What Do You Do, Janice Min, Editorial Director of The Hollywood Reporter?

Janelle Harris resides in Washington, D.C., frequents Twitter and lives on Facebook.

Not every business epiphany is the fruit of some disastrous encounter. Hollywood producer Tracey Edmonds gleaned her greatest piece of wisdom about being CEO of a major media company by watching her professional idol, Berry Gordy.

From the Motown founder, Edmonds says she learned to be hands on, which is especially important as she develops content for her new venture, the family- and faith-oriented Web network, Alright TV. “I look at every edit of every show that comes in. I’m very involved in the creation of logos and casting, even approving production design for our sets. When you put your name on something, you’ve really got to take time with quality control,” she told us.

Partnering with fellow mogul Bob Johnson of BET fame, Edmonds is anxious to prove that there is a market for feel-good programming, even as she recently signed on for a big-screen version of scandalized reality show Basketball Wives. Here, she tells how she broke into Hollywood and built her own brand.

Name: Tracey Edmonds
Position: Film/TV producer, president and CEO of Alright TV
Resume: Started as waterfront real estate specialist. Co-founded Edmonds Entertainment Group with then-husband Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds. Managed Yab Yum music publishing and record label and Edmonds Management, overseeing celebrity clients. With a $7 million budget, produced first feature film, Soul Food, which grossed over $43 million at the box office and spawned a popular Showtime TV series. In 2006, named president and COO of Our Stories Films, a studio created by BET founder Bob Johnson and The Weinstein Company. Produced reality shows for BET and TV One. Launched Alright TV in March 2013.
Birthdate: February 18
Hometown: Los Angeles
Education: Bachelor’s degree in psychobiology from Stanford
Marital status: Divorced
Favorite TV shows: Scandal and The Real Housewives of Atlanta “because I know some of the cast members”
Guilty pleasure: Travel
Media idol: Berry Gordy
Last book read: Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsch
Twitter handle: @traceyeedmonds

You started your career in real estate. What made you want to jump into entertainment?
I grew up in a middle-class African-American neighborhood where we were kind of programmed like, ‘If you want to be successful, you’ve got to be a doctor or a lawyer.’ I went to college pre-med, and, after I graduated, I was trying to figure out what I really wanted to do. Did I want to go to medical school? What did I really want to do with my career? So, I took some time off and I got into real estate, which was a way to make some money in the meantime. I got my broker’s license, opened up an office and started selling homes as a waterfront specialist. From the age 20 until, like, 23, I put some money in the bank but I didn’t have a passion for real estate. It didn’t feel like something I was really meant to do. I remember telling my mom, who was my partner at the time, ‘I really want to move up to L.A.’ Literally the weekend I moved, I met Kenny Edmonds, who became my husband. I segued from real estate into entertainment and the rest is history.

Tell us about the first real hurdle you encountered as a filmmaker or producer and how you overcame it.
You know what? I was really blessed. I had freshman success and sophomore’s luck. When I was in my mid-20s, I had been doing music and I had a record label, but I wanted to get into producing films. I found the script for Soul Food and it became my first film. We had tremendous box office success. When you do that for your first time, you don’t realize how hard it is to duplicate. Then you get a reality check. My second film was called Light It Up with Usher, Rosario Dawson and Forest Whittaker. It had a really great cast but really bad timing. It was about a group of kids protesting the conditions of a poorly run, inner-city high school. As timing would have it, right as the film was about to be released, the incident at Columbine [High School] happened. It was a horrific nationwide news story. Instead of holding onto it and releasing it later, the studio decided to release it but not put any marketing dollars behind it. When you produce films, there are so many variables that are out of your control: for example, picking the release date. That’s something the studio does. So, we ended up having a horrific box office weekend. I went from that first success to a box office disaster. I was still young and that was one of the hardest things that I went through in my career. I felt like I let everybody down. But, the older you get, you just realize that that’s just the business.

You’ve produced several hit films, like Soul Food and Jumping the Broom. Do you think gender is still a considerable factor in who gets the backing to make certain films? If not, what’s holding more women back from being behind the camera, not just in front of it?
I don’t think it’s gender. I think the biggest problem is still the issue of color. There are still only a few slots on the entire release schedule for African-Americans. If you look at the release schedule for the year, you’re only going to see maybe eight African-American films out of all of the movies being released that year. Tyler Perry has maybe three films in that block, and that leaves the rest of us to kind of vie for those other spots.

Alright has some big stars on its initial line-up, like Deion Sanders and Issa Rae of “Awkward Black Girl” fame. How did you develop the ideas for each of the shows and get each star on board? Were you pitched or did you pitch them?
Each one varied. Some of the content was developed with people I’ve had different relationships with. I don’t know if you know this, but Deion [Sanders] is the man in my life. We were working on a couple of reality shows together, and he and another company called 1820 Productions had the idea for Sports Dads. They were already working on the concept, which I loved. Issa Rae, I’m really excited to be working with her. She’s already had tremendous success with the show that she did on the Web called Awkward Black Girl. I was a huge fan of that show. So, Issa kind of reached out to us and said, ‘Hey, I’ve got something that would be right up your alley, and so she pitched us this idea of a Web comedy called “The Choir.” I have a health show called “Pure Health” because my lifestyle — I practice what’s called natural health, so I try to keep antibiotics and prescription drugs out of my system. We’ve got live streaming of church services on Sunday and a series called “Preach On, Teach On,” which is about 15 different vloggers addressing different issues to keep people going through situations in life that people are really dealing with.

Reality TV is flourishing with tales of exes, wives and former girlfriends of celebrities. Having actually been a Hollywood wife yourself, what side of that lifestyle do you think is missing from these shows? What are they not telling about the real life of a celebrity wife?
I haven’t watched all of them, but I saw a couple of episodes of Hollywood Exes, and I was really happy to see them show a more positive side of these women and their goals and careers. I really want to see more empowerment in these shows: women doing their own thing and having their own careers and raising children and juggling motherhood and generating their own income. I really hope to see more of that as opposed to women fighting each other and talking about each other behind their backs and all of that nonsense that networks push producers to show.

If you could speak to your younger self, the woman who first had a dream of making it in Hollywood, what one piece of advice would you give her?
I encourage young women to be empowered and independent and not rely on other people to fulfill their dreams. You’ve got to be prepared for people to reject you, to put you down, to hold you back, but you’ve got to be strong and just keep going at it. I really encourage women to create their own paths and not depend on men to take care of them. The fairy tale is beautiful. I love love and I love being in love. With any relationship that any of us get into, we always hope for the best. We want it to be everlasting, but we have to protect ourselves in case the fairy tale ends. We don’t want to just have the rug pulled out from under us and not have a game plan. That’s the main message that I want to get out to young women.

How can film producers or people with Web TV ideas get their content added to Alright’s lineup? What’s your pitch/submission process?
We have a couple of development executives who listen to things first. And, if they like something, they’ll pass it on to me. Amy Ficken is one of our development executives and you can reach her at AMY at ALRIGHTTV dot COM. That’s kind of the first step. We’re going for high entertainment value that has positive messaging. That’s the formula and the directive that we’re asking people to look for when they submit content to us.

You’re partnering with YouTube for Alright TV, but half the battle online is getting people to actually find and watch your content. What is your strategy for getting viewers?
The strategy is to follow the viewers. I look at it all as entertainment, and viewers are becoming more and more powerful in having a say in what they want to watch and how and when they want to watch programs… Promotion of Alright TV has been amazing and we continue to grow daily in our viewership. I’m very active through my social networks, and I tweet inspirational messages each morning. I initially had no idea how much those inspirational messages helped people, and received so much feedback. It was all very uplifting and inspired me to keep going, and, before I knew it, I had gone from zero followers to more than 150,000 followers who I call my Twitter family. Alright TV was born from my social media network, and the daily exchange of positive, inspiring and uplifting messages that I have through my social network. Viewers are hungry for faith-friendly and inspiration programming, and Alright TV has grown mostly through word of mouth, our online followers and within the faith community. We launched on Easter Sunday and already have over half a million views online.

NEXT >> So What Do You Do, Janice Min, Editorial Director of The Hollywood Reporter?

Janelle Harris resides in Washington, D.C., frequents Twitter and lives on Facebook.

L.A. is already a busy town full of beautiful people, and it’s made even busier and more beautiful in this last week leading up to the BET Awards. At the crux of the increasing pomp and anticipation before the show airs live on June 30 is Stephen Hill who, for the better part of a decade, has designed programming for Black Entertainment Television, the network behind the event.

For a long time, BET has been the cable TV whipping boy for disgruntled critics who accuse it of having a pithy lineup and showcasing stereotypical imagery of African-Americans. Yet, it’s Hill who has steadily broadened BET’s offerings with special events and original shows, like Real Husbands of Hollywood, a semi-scripted reality program and the No. 1 prime-time sitcom among all adults 18-49. Now, those same critics, while still there, have been force-fed a big handful of hush-up.

“If you’re looking for music, we’ve got that,” Hill told us. “If you’re looking for spiritual upliftment, we’ve got that. If you’re looking for laughs, we’ve got that. With the coming of Being Mary Jane, if you’re looking for drama, we’ve got that. That represents a variety. No one culture is monolithic, right?”

Name: Stephen G. Hill
Position: President of music programming and specials for BET
Resume: Program director at Brown University’s college station, WBRU-FM and, eventually, WILD-AM in Boston. Launched 24-hour format for ABC Radio Network’s roster of urban music. Served as executive producer for the Tom Joyner Morning Show. Transitioned to television as director of music programming for MTV, hand picking videos and working with talent. Joined BET in 1999 as executive VP of entertainment and music programming and currently serves as president of music programming and specials.
Hometown: Southeast Washington, D.C.
Education: Brown University
Marital status: Single
Media idol: Radio disc jockey and BET personality Donnie Simpson
Favorite show: The White Shadow
Guilty pleasure: Scandal
Last book read: Bossypants by Tina Fey
Twitter handle: @StephenGHill

Tell us what a typical or interesting week is like for you at the office.
So, this is a particularly interesting week as we get ready for the BET Awards. Today, we had a conversation with Charlie Wilson about his tribute, and we’ve got some surprises in that. We’re working with R. Kelly on his medley. He’s got a very interesting idea that we’re working around. We’re working with Mariah Carey’s stage set and how she’ll be revealed in the show. At the same time, I had a strategy call with the other senior executives at BET yesterday, looking at projections for the next few quarters. Altogether, it’s a great balance of the creative and the analytical.

BET gets a lot of criticism seemingly no matter what it does. How much viewer feedback do you take into consideration when programming, and what do you think it will take to finally change people’s perception of the network?
I think it takes a couple of things. One, I’ll stand by what we’ve done over the last few years, and that’s to bring outstanding programming to the screen, whether it’s Being Mary Jane with Gabrielle Union or Real Husbands of Hollywood, the BET Awards, the BET Honors. The second thing: people who had an opinion of the old BET need to be willing to adjust that opinion for the new one. Both of those things have to happen for people to change their minds or get another opinion. As with anything, you have to be open to change.

Meanwhile, BET has made a marked effort to broaden its original programming and even holds its own upfronts now. Why did it take so long for the network to produce shows like these, when your sister network MTV and VH1 have been doing the same things for years?
That’s a very sticky question. I don’t want to assess other decisions that have been made. All I can say is I think [Loretha Jones, BET president of original programming] has been carrying the flag since she came on board, and our offerings since then have increased. I can’t speak as to why it didn’t happen before. I know it’s happening now, and we’re extremely successful with it.

TV One has been nipping on BET’s heels with several successful shows that many think BET should have run years ago. As a programming exec, what is your strategy for fending them off?
We’re glad that people have finally realized that there can be more than just one network that’s attractive to African-American viewers. Sometimes it’s tough to take the whole of a culture on because there are geographic differences, age differences… Other cultures have more than one channel; we’re glad people understand there can be more than one channel for African-Americans.

This year is the first time the BET Awards will be open to the public, and you’ve added a series of concerts for fans called the BET Experience. Your event sounds an awful lot like the Essence Music Festival, which takes place the week after yours. How much did Essence‘s success inspire yours, and are there any concerns that the two events might cannibalize each other?
The BET Experience is really built around the BET Awards, because the BET Awards has been airing on the last week of June for the last 10, 11, 12 years or so. People would come out to L.A. for the BET Awards without a ticket. They just wanted to be around the atmosphere, and it just became a magnet event, just the awards show. So, what we did was organize what was already organic. Take the energy that’s already coming here, add some stuff to it and invite more people and make it the BET Experience. I don’t think we would do this outside of the energy that’s already been generated around the BET Awards.

And speaking of awards shows, BET produces a slew of them annually. Why so many of them, and are you working on any other shows to reach music fans?
We found them to be successful, because people are attracted to them. There are many times when people look at the general market award shows and say, “Why’d they ignore this actor?” or “Why’d they ignore this movie?” But we never get that question. We celebrate the achievements of African-Americans throughout the year, whether it’s the BET Awards where we’re doing music, movies and sports, or the BET Honors when we acknowledge people’s lifetime achievements, or Black Girls Rock, which is really about empowering young, Black women — those you’ve heard of and those you haven’t heard of who are doing great things in the community. So we enjoy being able to celebrate our own.

Another BET mainstay is the video countdown show 106 & Park, which recently upped its number of co-hosts from two to four. What was the impetus for that change, and how is it working out?
That came from a conversation we had with [former co-hosts] Terrence and Rocsi as they were leaving. We asked them what things could possibly be done differently to energize the format, and one of them suggested maybe going to four hosts. The idea has been to have more variety, giving you two more people to possibly attach to as you watch the show. So, we’re giving it a shot.

Describe an “Aha! moment” in your career when you realized, “This is what I love doing.” Can you remember the first time you had that thought?
I think one of the first ones was when Michael Jackson surprised James Brown during the presentation of his lifetime achievement award at the BET Awards ’03. I was a huge fan of James Brown growing up and, of course, the Jackson Five. They were my second concert of all time, so to see two musical heroes on stage together giving each other love? I was like, “Oh, my gosh. Do I really get to do this for a living?” I feel like that every day, even on tough days when we’re doing budget meetings. Even then, I feel like, OK, I know after this I’m going to be talking to an act I respect or doing a performance that the audience is going to love.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to work behind the scenes in entertainment television? What three qualities do you need to be successful?
Last question first: perseverance, drive and absolute passion. Perseverance is when people say no, you have the ability to keep going. Drive is when you say, “I know I’m tired but I’ve got to stay up. I have to keep moving on this project, because when I turn it in my manager is going to like it and I’m going to go to the next level.” And passion is like, “I don’t want to do anything else but this. This is all I want to do.” It’s crucial, especially in this industry, because so many people want to be in entertainment. I think the entry into it is deceptively easy. My advice is be an intern. I told someone this 10 years ago, and I ran into them recently and they were like, “You were right.” It doesn’t matter what the level of the job is. Once you show the value you’re able to bring, you can move around in an organization to get to what you really want to do. There are a lot of ex-assistants and ex-production assistants who are now at lofty levels in entertainment companies. That’s because once you’re in, you show your drive, passion and perseverance, and good things can come of it.

Janelle Harris resides in Washington, D.C., frequents Twitter and lives on Facebook.

Fifteen million YouTube views of a guy experiencing his inaugural Five Guys burger in the front seat of his SUV seems a bit excessive, maybe even unwarranted. Perhaps it should rank right up there with the nonsensical online celebrity of an opera-singing tabby cat or a guy playing cricket on a unicycle.

But then you actually watch the clips of Daymon “Daym” Patterson musing about carryout on his Daym Drops YouTube channel and find yourself hooked. On second thought, you think, this guy is made to be on TV. And the execs at Travel Channel would agree with you — the network is putting the former Wal-Mart assistant manager front and center with Best Daym Takeout, premiering July 31.

So how did this start? Why review fast food and why record and upload those reviews to YouTube?
I was in retail management for the last 17 years. In the beginning, I was only getting a half-hour lunch, and I would run and grab a quick bite to eat and get right back to work. My last job was at Wal-mart, which gave me an hour lunch as an assistant manager, so I had a little more time to play with. I started out filming my neighborhood, doing little news reports and uploading them. One day on my lunch break, I went to Burger King and had their French toast sticks, and I did a review of them in the car and put that on YouTube. It received like 134 views, whereas all the other videos were maybe like 30, 50 views. The following week, I went to Dunkin Donuts and I got their new frozen hot chocolate. That video caught over 300 views, and I thought, “OK, now I have something here.”

Eating in your car and making funny comments and actually interacting with the people behind the foods are two different stories. How has this experience challenged you, and what have you discovered about yourself?
To make comedy that can people can relate to, that’s major for me. When you’re in retail management, you find yourself kind of in a box. You know, it’s just like you have to be one way with your associates; you’ve got to make sure the job gets done; you’re doing this for 12-15 hours a day; you come home; you’re tired; that’s it. And then again, that’s life. And then again, you look back on it and you’re like, “But there’s so much more.” So I guess doing this for YouTube, I actually found out that I have a lot more to offer. It’s only been like two and a half years for the food reviews. One a week tends to go a long way with the people, you know?

How did you end up with a show on The Travel Channel?
Once the Gregory Brothers did the video, “Oh My Dayum,” it started blowing up and I started getting the attention of a lot of different networks. They were like, “Daym, this is what we see your future looking like and this is what we can do.” But nobody was talking about what I really wanted to do. I wanted to stick to that YouTube flow. That’s how I grew my fan base. It just so happened in dealing with [Banca Studio], they were able to connect with The Travel Channel. I was able to keep my YouTube style, add some more ingredients, then bake it all together for a great show. Best Daym Takeout was born. I think the biggest thing that I truly enjoyed about this experience was the fact that I was able to get away from national chains and go over to mom and pop shops. I’m going in; I’m talking to the people; I’m jumping in the kitchen; I might even get myself dirty a couple of times over. But, ultimately, I’ma put in an order, I’ma take it to the front seat of my vehicle and give that YouTube review that everybody knows me for.

What’s your travel and production schedule like now, and how frequently do you dine out?
The first series is going to be a limited series. It’s six episodes and I’m visiting 18 restaurants, three an episode. We definitely try to put some breaks in there, because you need some breaks. You need to make sure you get back to the basics of maintaining that balance, and the balance for me is hitting the gym three or four times a week so the body’s right. Keep myself tight. So, if I’m out for two or three weeks, I won’t be home for a month after that. That’s how I can make sure we can get those three restaurants in in every city. We capture the history of that location, talk to the people, see what it is that they’re saying is their best takeout. I’m all about the experience and the food when it comes to the review.

You often take meal and restaurant suggestions your YouTube followers. How do you think that’s played into the success of your channel, and now that you’re on cable who will make the decisions about where you eat?
That’s the main thing. If people know I’m going to be in Chicago or Atlanta, I go to my Daym Drops fan page and I’m like, “Listen y’all, I’m going to be in Atlanta for a few days. What would you say are some hot spots I might need to check out?” And, once we touch ground, we’re keeping those spots that people responded with in mind. We also go out and do some scouting to figure out what’ll be great for the show. Then we get our three shows. Pow, pow, pow. We make it happen. The biggest thing, again, is I like that whole feeling of being interactive and keeping that foundation, and the foundation is that following that I have. So they’re still with me in every step of the show.

Will you continue to do your videos now that you’re on television?
Girl, you know ain’t nothin’ gonna change. I’ve still got the “Daym Drops” flow going on on YouTube every week dropping something on them.

Last year, Dr. Oz introduced you to healthier fast food. How will you be incorporating vegan, vegetarian and lower-calorie meals into your adventures now that you have a broader audience?
I’m always open. As long as I leave myself open to try something new, whether I love it, whether I hate it, whether it doesn’t make a difference, the fact is I’m willing to go on ahead and try it. I do have a nice little vegan following and they’re always reminding me, “Daym, can you do something that doesn’t have meat in it?” I just want to make sure I have communication with the people, so if it takes some fruit and vegetables, you do what you have to do.

Is there anything you’ll absolutely refuse to eat, no matter how many people are watching?
Now, I don’t know how you feel about oysters but oysters are rough for me. We have a tough time. They’re slimy. We tried to have a communication, a little something at the roundtable and uh, they didn’t say anything I like to hear.

Daymon Patterson’s Tips for Growing a YouTube Audience:
1. Start with something you love. “Know what your passion is and stick with it, but don’t be afraid to try new things. And make sure you’re comfortable on camera. Once you believe in yourself enough, other people will believe in you, too.”

2. Work well with others. “All it takes is one person to change your life. That’s all it took for me. [YouTube viewers] put something on Reddit and now I see life out of a different scope. There are a lot of opportunities for collaborations with other YouTubers who have a broader audience. Work with them. Get yourself partnered because they can bring their subscribers to your channel.”

3. Don’t forget the people who made you. “A lot of YouTubers get to a point where they don’t respond to comments anymore. I still take the time out, because even though you’re growing you should still acknowledge your viewers. Word of mouth is everything.

Janelle Harris resides in Washington, D.C., frequents Twitter and lives on Facebook.

There’s a suspended moment of time in every working adult’s life, perhaps after a mentally exhausting meeting or a particularly treacherous morning commute, when you contemplate doing something better with the rest of your career. Some people chalk it up to being a bad day and shake it off. Some interpret it as a final straw, update their resume and start poring over job sites in hopes of finding a grand new position. And some, perhaps the most adventurous of us, take all of the field experience and knowledge we’ve earned at a 9-to-5 and become full-time freelancers.

According to a recent survey from the McKinsey Global Institute, 58 percent of employers are planning to bring on more temporary, part-time or contract workers during the next five years. That’s a dark cloud gathering over the full-time workforce, who has to operate under the threat of being ousted in favor of benefit-free labor. But it’s a potential goldmine for current freelancers and a promising forecast for traditional employees hoping to convert their existing duties into a regular freelance gig.

“In the last year, we’re seeing a lot of people who really want full-time jobs because they want the stability,” explained Sara Horowitz, founder and executive director of the Freelancers Union. “But they’re realizing the opportunities are in freelancing. As work becomes more short-term, it’s just realistic for people to be prepared and nimble. Their mindset is evolving.”

Ideally, before a wannabe solopreneur makes the decision to take the freelance plunge, they would have built up an arsenal of outlets, contacts and clients to allow them to make the smoothest transition possible. And they wouldn’t be so excited to leave the ol’ cubicle behind that they miss the opportunity to turn their current job into a client. If you dream of the freedom freelancing affords, here’s how to build your case for a working partnership before you sashay out of your company’s doors:

Demonstrate how invaluable your services have been.

If you were any degree of good at your job, there’s some skill or expertise that makes you an asset to your team. Perhaps you are a whiz at capturing the company’s voice in marketing materials or you write speeches that garner rousing applause for the otherwise tongue-tied president. Use what makes you stand out and shine as an employee to leverage continued contractual work once you’re ready to strike out on your own.

“The key is to present a business case to senior management and get their approval,” said Sherri Thomas, president of Career Coaching 360 and author of The Bounce Back. “I recently had a client who worked in the energy industry as a first-line manager and successfully transitioned into a very cool consulting gig. She found a business problem that the company needed to solve and she focused all her efforts on becoming an expert in that area to help solve it,” Thomas explained. “Eventually, she became the only person inside the company doing the type of work she was doing. She weighed her options, decided how she could add value to the organization by becoming a contractor, presented her business case to senior leaders and they were sold.” Having already earned the confidence of upper management, you may be better positioned than a replacement colleague assigned to take over your duties because higher ups are saving time and money on training.

Still, freedom to do the job as a freelancer has a fresh set of companion concerns. “One potential trap is not being prepared for all of the ‘extras’ that come with being your own boss,” Thomas warned. “One of my clients transitioned from being a full-time employee to a contractor and didn’t expect having to work more hours to meet deadlines and obligations. It’s a learning curve on estimating the job scope, managing the business responsibilities like invoicing and finalizing contracts, not having an IT department to handle computer and e-mail snafus, and not being able to take a day off when you’re sick.”

Have the conversation before___not after___you decide to leave.
Casual conversation with your bosses while you’re noshing on your “farewell and best wishes” cake is not the time to reveal your interest in freelancing post-resignation. Before you even unveil your plan, do a little background research with human resources. See if your employment contract allows any kind of continued relationship beyond the scope of regular hiring and firing. Also understand how the non-compete clauses may affect your ability to freelance for other companies if and when you take your soon-to-be former employer on as a client.

Being pigeonholed into a commitment may be worth it financially, but you still need a heads up beforehand or run the risk of violating the stipulations down the line. “You could probably easily go from working to freelance, but you want to start by looking at the employment agreement and making sure that if you want to freelance after working, you start the conversation as soon as you know your position is going to end,” Thomas explained. “Doing it while you’re there ends up being a way to sort of segue out.” Plus, it’s easier to get the information you need as a current employee than as a former one.

Set up meetings with key managers before you publicly announce your departure to get feedback on your plan to continue on as a freelancer. You’re not looking to solidify the details of a deal___you’re just reminding them of all of the fabulous things you’ve done for the company and putting feelers out on their reaction to shifting your existing relationship. If they need time to think, give them that and circle back in a week. The last thing you want to do is tick off the very people you may need relationships with down the line.

Set and negotiate your own terms.

You’re not schlepping stacks of unstapled grant proposals across the suite for $20 an hour anymore. You’re an independent contractor and as such, the terms and conditions of your working relationship with your previous employer may need to be tweaked, perhaps even completely redefined. But this time, it’ll be according to your specifications. If there was something you always hated doing, you can write it out of the list of responsibilities you’ll take on as a freelancer and instead hand it over to some other unfortunate person who remains on staff. Of course, your old boss turned new client will need to agree to those details and your freelance offerings still need to be palatable to them.

That means you’ll need to prepare for negotiation by knowing the current market value of your work. The Small Business Administration suggests following this formula to avoid undercutting yourself: Pare your annual salary down to an hourly rate ($X divided by 52 work weeks, divided by 40 week work hours). Then mark it up 25-30 percent. The figure should cover your professional worth, but it also budgets for other expenses needed for the successful operation of your business, something Horowitz says many freelancers fail to anticipate.

“The most important thing for you and them to really understand is the scope of the work. What’s the project? What are the deliverables? When are they due? That’s where you see the most conflict arise,” she added. “Freelancer’s Union website has a free Contract Creator. That’s really one of the best things you can do.” Be sure to include a payment schedule, Horowitz stressed, because many freelancers end up getting paid at 60 or 90 days. “Thirty days is reasonable, but anything above that is not,” she said. Horowitz recommends reading her book, Freelancer’s Bible, not just because she wrote it, but because it details tips about making the transition, from contractual soup to financial nuts.

Janelle Harris resides in Washington, D.C., frequents Twitter and lives on Facebook.

The ingredients for the standard-issue fairy tale typically include love interests, some kind of dramatic conflict and an unrealistically idyllic happy ending. If those elements always played out in the reality of modern-day relationships, Jozen Cummings would have very little to write about. His fans heave a hefty sigh of relief for the material.

If you can compartmentalize the creative agendas of a writer, his go like this: By day, he’s the dating reporter for the New York Post’s Meet Market column, where every week he pairs two singles and sends them on an expense-paid blind date. By night, he pens refreshingly thoughtful posts to his own blog, Until I Get Married, to share the experiences, challenges and honesties of his bachelorhood.

“I didn’t realize I was starting a relationship when I was starting my blog, but that’s what it’s been,” he explains. “It’s been a passion project. Ultimately, I’m trying to create work that has a lasting effect on other people.” Perhaps the fairy tale here isn’t just the journey of the man finding his bride, but in the man finding and living his writing dream. Here, Cummings talks singlehood, blogging and the art of date-making.

Name: Jozen Cummings
Position: Blogger for Until I Get Married and dating reporter for The New York Post’s weekly blind-date column, Meet Market
Resume: Began journalism career in 2004 as fact-checker at Vibe magazine. Hired as web editor at King magazine in 2006. Returned to Vibe as online editor and articles editor in 2008 until the mag was shuttered in July 2009. Launched blog, Until I Get Married, in August that same year. As a freelancer, contributed articles to outlets, including NPR, Essence, Complex, New York Times Magazine and The Wall Street Journal’s culture blog, Speakeasy. Also worked briefly as online editor at XXL magazine and staff writer at The Huffington Post. Contributing editor at The Root.
Birthday: July 18
Hometown: Seaside, Calif.
Education: Bachelor’s degree in news/online journalism from Howard University
Marital status: Single
Media mentor: Danyel Smith
Favorite TV show: Scandal. “I love the whole experience of watching it. I make sure I’m on my couch exactly [when it comes on], and I probably haven’t done that since The Wire.”
Guilty pleasure: Twitter
Last book read: Long Division by Kiese Laymon
Twitter handle: @jozenc

Describe the science of strategic bachelorhood. What kind of experiences should an eventually marriage-minded man get out of his system before he even dreams of settling down?
I think that bachelorhood is misrepresented in a lot of ways as being somewhat juvenile. The idea that a man is not ready to settle down is always associated with “oh, he just wants to go around and sleep with as many girls as he can.” Basically, bachelorhood is viewed as some sort of selfish behavior, but I don’t believe that’s entirely true. Don’t get me wrong — I’m still making mistakes in my dating life that are probably contributing to me being single. But I feel like I’m more of a man than I’ve ever been, and I don’t think that I’ve ever had this desire to get married so that more people look at me as a man. I truly believe that you become a man on your own terms. Don’t let bachelorhood define your manhood. Let your manhood define your bachelorhood.

Your background is in arts and entertainment, so how did you end up a dating reporter? What was the original concept for Meet Market?
I inherited Meet Market. I believe one of the editors told me that it’s been around for six or seven years. I’ve been doing it for about a year. I heard about the opening when a friend sent me the link on Mediabistro’s job board, so it’s actually kind of poetic. It was the first job that I ever got where I went in not knowing anyone. But when I saw the opening for Meet Market, I said “This is the job for me. This is the job I want.”

I know that people know about my blog, but I never use it as a way to sell myself or my qualifications. I still feel strongly about this: you want a professional job, you’ve got to show the most professional work that you possibly can. So none of my clips were dating-related or anything like that. But I knew that it would help to show that I care a lot about this topic of dating, so I did send a link to my blog. Kind of like a bowtie, [it was] just an accent to say “Hey, in addition to my professional experience as a journalist, I also have this blog that I do on the side where I talk about this very thing.”

How did you improve on it?
It’s tough to say. I didn’t even read the column before I applied for the job. Of course, once I sent in my materials, I started looking it up. It’s one of the few sections in the paper where you see normal, everyday people being normal, everyday people. They’re there simply because they’re single and want to go out on a nice date and they’re open to having a little fun with that. Being single and wanting to date is something that crosses all demographics. I want everyone to be able to see a bit of themselves [in the column]. This city is the most diverse in the world, and I want this section to reflect New York as much as possible. I take a lot of pride in that.

With so many online dating sites claiming to put together happy relationships and marriages, what’s the unique magic around a blind date set up in a newspaper column?
I think it’s a very old school thing that’s still new to everybody. It’s existed for years and yet when you meet people who are about to experience it, they act like it’s something that was just invented yesterday. That’s what makes blind dating unique. You know what you’re getting into, but then once you decide to get into it it’s kind of like, “Oh, I didn’t know the deep end of the pool was deep.” You can safely say that most people who sign up for Meet Market have never done anything like it. I think they’re challenging themselves to get outside of their normal dating habits and do something new. I would always encourage somebody to try something different when they’re not getting the results that they want, but I would never, ever suggest that by trying something different, they’re going to get a different result.

What’s the writing process for a dating column?
I work with OK Cupid a lot — they send me single people and I work with their compatibility algorithm. I also created a questionnaire where I ask participants everything from what their favorite board game is to the type of places they prefer hanging out. I care a lot about the dates I set up. I know what time they’re going out and where they’re going. Even though I’m not anywhere in the vicinity, I keep my phone close in case they need anything. Then everybody who goes out is instructed to give me a recap of their date. When I get the email that’s basically going to tell me everything that happened, I cannot tell you how nervous I am because I just hope that people have a good time. That’s what I care about the most.

Have you ever put together any happily ever afters?
That’s the most popular question I get and the answer is no. I’ve had people go out on second dates, I’ve had people become best friends, I’ve had people continue to date, but I haven’t received any wedding invitations. And I think that’s fine. That’s not what I’m trying to do. I don’t look at my job as a matchmaker. I’m a date-maker.

What have you learned from writing Meet Market that you’ve applied to your own dating life?
Well, if somebody wants to set me up on a blind date, I’d be more open to it now. I’ve been on one since I started Meet Market. It’s funny because when that opportunity was presented to me, at first I was like, wait… what? Me? I’ve learned that there’s something about the daytime that makes two people show up to a date a little bit more comfortably. When I set two people up to meet on a Sunday or a Saturday at 2 in the afternoon, there’s a noticeable difference between how they react. Everybody says they have a good time. So now, I like to meet up on Sundays or Saturdays at 2.

I’ve also learned that, hey, you’re not always going to hit a homerun on the first date. I think I used to swing for one, just wanting it to be absolutely perfect. Now I care more about getting along with someone well enough that I want to see them for a second date. I don’t have to see my life partner in them right away. That would be nice, but I’m more resolved about just wanting to have a good time with them because that’s what I want with all of my daters.

Your blog, Until I Get Married, drips with raw emotion. How has blogging been cathartic for you? Have you ever had an epiphany during the process of writing?
I didn’t ever think that I would become a blogger. I’m a writer. Period. But nothing has saved my career as a writer more than blogging. I’ve been blessed to do what I always wanted to do, which is work at magazines, work at newspapers, be a writer, live in New York City. One thing that I learned is that once you start writing for yourself, it’s going to test how much you actually love doing this. Do you really love it as much as you say you do? Because no one is telling you to get up and write. Every decision you make is a decision you have to come to for yourself. Blogging brought to light how much I care about doing this. It’s become cathartic in a sense that it’s a house of mirrors. When I go back and read things I was writing in 2009 and 2010, I’m like, “Whoa! Thank God I’m not that anymore.”

Now that you’ve been kind of accidentally intentional with your blog’s success, what advice would you give up-and-coming bloggers to optimize their blog’s popularity?
I think the most important thing is to find a schedule and be as consistent as possible with it because that’s the thing that people need in order to engage — consistency. It’s more important that you publish your post on the same day every week than it is for you to write five different times five days a week. Do it once a week for four weeks at the same time and then the fifth week, have a post ready, but don’t post. Give it a day. And I guarantee there will be somebody who you didn’t know was reading who will hit you up and say, “Yo, where’s my post?”

Also, quit worrying about how many people are reading your blog. It may be to my detriment, but I don’t look at the numbers. I do look at a post’s comments, likes, retweets and shares on Facebook and sometimes I think, “Man this thing ain’t hittin’.” I just want to stop pushing it. Do not stop pushing it. If you’re posting once a week, push that post every single day. You’ve got X amount of followers and X amount of friends on Facebook and not everybody is logging in at the same time, so a lot of people didn’t even see the last time that you sent out the link. Give everybody a chance.

Janelle Harris resides in Washington, D.C., frequents Twitter and lives on Facebook.

Brave the comments section on a blog or website and, amidst the opinions, trolling and fire-and-brimstone judgments, there may be a business idea. It’s where Jamarlin Martin, reigning CEO of Moguldom Media, gleaned inspiration for his most recent venture. For the past seven years, he’s translated his expertise in African-American media consumption into a successful group of pop culture websites — including MadameNoire and Bossip — culminating into $15 million in ad sales this year alone and affixing Moguldom to Inc.’s list of top media companies in 2013.

Now he’s broadening his scope, so to speak, with the creation of Moguldom Films, a burgeoning brand that will take topics that have gotten heavy traction on his suite of sites and turn them into documentary films. A former currency trader, Martin remains a numbers guy when it comes to using research and data to support the trajectory of his now two-pronged empire. Gunland, the first film in the 15-documentary series Martin plans to spearhead over the next two years, will examine the impact of gun violence on the black community in Chicago. The man clearly knows his way around online media. Here, he talks how he plans to saunter into movie-making.

How has your experience serving multicultural audiences through online properties like Hip-Hop Wired and MommyNoire helped you better understand the stories you want to tell and the people you want to tell them to?
African-Americans have a trillion dollars in buying power. However, bigger media companies are not providing quality content that multicultural audiences are interested in. We have seven years of robust data on what our users are looking for. The stories we want to tell have a heavy data component. For example, in 2012 one of our top-performing articles was around celebrities who have gone broke, particularly African-American celebrities. That article generated more than 30 million page views. We marketed that content on Facebook to test it in more of a hyper-targeted audience, and that article also outperformed 100 other articles there. We’re listening to our users in terms of what they’re commenting on and how they’re engaging with the content. We’re essentially building rationale for the topics that we invest in on the documentary side around data and our editors’ understanding of what their audience is looking for. That’s where I think we have a really solid advantage in terms of our approach.

Strategizing content for websites is one thing, but films are a completely different animal. How will you build audience engagement, particularly since you plan to avail these films on iTunes and fee-based streaming sites like Netflix?
Target Market News conducted a study last year and asked African-Americans what type of topics they would be interested in seeing more of. The number one answer was documentaries. So we’ve heavily surveyed our own audience in terms of capturing the appetite for documentaries and the willingness to buy or rent documentaries. When you look at it in a broader context, Netflix, who has the most data, has said that [it’s] investing in two areas specifically: comedy and documentaries. So from a first-party data perspective and a third-party research perspective, everything is pointing to this genre. Yet you won’t even have one production company probably doing two a year. Next year, we’ll do 15. There’s zero competition. We like our chances of winning because essentially, no one is producing content targeted at this audience within this genre. Not doing it at the scale we’re looking to do it.

One big advantage that we have with the documentary initiative is we’re going to put over a half million dollars’ worth of marketing into the films across our platform. We’re a preferred partner with most Hollywood studios and we’re turning that into more of a content commerce company, where essentially we start marketing our own films. So we are the preferred partner for urban African-American films when they come out. Now we’re producing our own product, and you’ll see heavy marketing across our platform on social media. So that would be a huge advantage for us as well. The data insights, the built-in audience and the ability to create customized campaigns across our platform make us different than Netflix and a production company. We have a lot of advantages with our documentary initiative.

You launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $25,000 to help finance production of the first film in the series. Why seek out community investors instead of corporate investors?
Essentially, we’re looking to produce content at low costs and a risk level that we’re comfortable with. We wanted to allow our audience to be engaged in the stories that we tell, to be a part of the process. So the first Kickstarter campaign is kind of like a beta test, but more aggressive campaigns will be launched next year. Traditionally, we would go to third parties to finance the film. We’ve just chosen a different model. [Editor’s note: The funding campaign was closed on Nov. 21 with a total of $639 in pledges. ]

Fifteen documentaries in one year is a whole lot of filmmaking. How did you arrive at that set number?
It starts with a vision. Our vision is to quickly build a film library of 50 titles over three years. We would pair that with original programming and essentially, that content would anchor a 24/7 smart TV channel. We see ourselves being the next-generation BET or the next-generation Telemundo, where you’re going to be downloading an app and accessing our content through smart TVs. We would be competing with TV One and BET, but from a purely digital standpoint. The long-term goal for us is to quickly develop a quality content library, and that’s going to anchor a television experience. You’ll see the beta version of that in 2015.

What are some of the documentaries you’ll be working on next? Why do these stories need to be told and why are you the one telling them?
I can’t tip our hats too much, but I can tell you our first documentary will be around the life of Jay-Z. That title is called A Genius Leaves the ‘Hood. We also have another that focuses on interracial relationships and we’ll finish a title called Black Church, Inc. around financial corruption within the black church. So those are some of the titles we’ll finish this year.

Soledad O’Brien and other notable media personalities are delving more deeply into documentary-making. How will your films differ from the ones being produced and aired now on CNN and PBS, for example?
Actually, we’re not calling our content a “documentary,” at least not internally. We call them “docutainment.” We believe we’re pioneering a new genre within film. Essentially, just as we’ve done online, we’re looking to develop an original, edgier, more Millennial flavor and bring a younger demographic into the documentary genre, at the same time serving a documentary core audience. You kind of see that in the marketplace with some of the stuff Vice Media is doing, putting a little bit more edge on the documentary genre. We’re making docutainment for our website audience. That’s the audience we have data on. Our content reaches over 10 million unique visitors a month. The way we see it, if we make good content for our core users — who are influencers — it’s going to work in a broader context.

Do you plan to expand into theaters?
Yes. That’s not announced yet but we will do two narrative films in 2015 and then maybe one or two of the documentary topics may be in the theater next year. We haven’t decided which ones yet.

Jarmarlin Martin’s tips for digging into documentaries:

1. Make money, but don’t let money make you. “You need a data strategy similar to Netflix and how they think about data to improve your success rate. That being said, if there’s a topic that’s not really consistent with our corporate brand and our specific site brands, we would definitely pass on it, even if the data suggested that we put it out.”

2. Act like an artist, think like a business person. “Most documentaries are shot because a filmmaker is passionate about a topic. But that’s not really looked at as a commercially viable investment. You need some sort of business or commercial advantage to at least break even or become profitable, particularly a tax-efficient strategy. I think that’s important. Georgia has a great tax incentive program where you can get up to a 30 percent tax credit that you could possibly sell off. So most of our films will be produced there next year.”

3. Work your social networks. “You really need digital marketing and social media in terms of building awareness around your product. In this competitive environment, you really need those things out the gate — they’re just as important as the content or the producer that you select.”

Janelle Harris resides in Washington, D.C., frequents Twitter and lives on Facebook.

Congratulations! You’re a burgeoning media hotshot. You wrote an article that blew up the Internet. You’re a social media superstar. You released a book that’s a bestseller from presales alone. Your web series is everybody’s new favorite thing. You’re the creative force behind a hip blog. You released a short film that’s raising eyebrows, awareness and tempers all at the same time. Your celebrity may have been a consequential accident or crafted with PR-perfect intention. Either way, it’s here. Now come the interviews.