Black Enterprise Magazine’s digital editor Selena Hill and RESPECT Magazine’s Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson discuss journalism on Scoop B Radio. Photo Credit: Angie Vasquez
Black Enterprise Magazine’s Digital Editor Selena Hill joins Scoop B Radio and discusses her journey. Press Play Below To Listen.
Selena Hill is a digital editor at Black Enterprise and an award-winning multi-media journalist. Hill is the founder, executive producer, and co-host of “Let Your Voice Be Heard! Radio,” a live radio show and weekly podcast that addresses current events, politics, and social issues from a Millennial perspective.
The talk show broadcasts on WHCR 90.3 FM “The Voice of Harlem” in NYC and is streamed online at www.LYVBH.com every Sunday from 11 am – 1 pm ET.
Her drive, passion to do a good job and ability is evident. She checked in with on this week’s episode of the Scoop B Radio podcast and discussed her journey. Press play above to listen to the podcast. Below is a truncated version of the interview.
Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: Selena you have been awarded a few awards I told you that you are like Michael Phelps right now. You have all those medals around your neck. You have been awarded the New York Press Club award for best commentary from Let Your Voice Be Heard. You have been awarded the New York Association of Black Journalists Award in 2016 and you were awarded the communicator award by Uprising Inc. You have come up the ranks pretty quick over the last few years I’ve seen you at events getting awards and stuff. What is your actual interest? Is it more pop culture? Is it Black issues?
Selena Hill: Ok so my beat. I am a strong proponent of social issues and social justice. Like I follow politics very closely and the show itself is very political in nature. We also cover foreign policy and social justice that is like you have heard my baby and I feel like I can really speak on those issues. Obviously I work for Black Enterprises magazine which is great publication we focus on black entrepreneurship and small business and large scale business that are being empowered by black people. Working there is also a blessing it is not really social justice and politics but you know it falls under that same umbrella almost when it comes to black empowerment which is something that is very close to my heart.
Selena Hill winning New York Press Club Award for work with Be Heard Radio. Photo Courtesy of Instagram
Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: I see you everywhere. I have seen your snapchat and instagram always very lively but I have seen you cover anybody from the latest movie like maybe and I have seen you on the road to Detroit covering movie premieres. You have expanded while you have been at Black Enterprise, am I correct?
Selena Hill: That is absolutely true, yes.
Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: What was the biggest adjustment for you going from social justice issues to more mainstream entertainment?
Selena Hill: I still try to tie it in. It is like still my passion and I still look for ways to work it in. For instance, the title of the story just slipped my mind, but like not to long ago, we did a story on the biggest, some of the biggest companies in tech that were speaking out on social injustice. Its like Google and Amazon,you know what I am saying? So like, I am always trying to find like an intersection of the two, like how does tone effect the economy? That is still politics and it ties back into business. I did a piece for Black Enterprise about how when Bill Maher used the ‘N-word’ and I was like the title of that piece was “Dear Black People stop defending Bill Maher.” Because I heard a lot of people defending him like he gets a comedic license and I just disagree. But I try to tie it as often as possible. If something needs to get done I will do that but even like you mention when I did the premiers, the movie premiere of Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. That movie itself was all about the uprising in Detroit in the 1960s that happened and it was a few days of riots and it was over social injustice and economic injustice toward the black people in that community. So I had a chance to see the movie twice before it came out and write a review on it. So for Black Enterprise, I just try to make it work. I’ll put it like that.
Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: One thing that I am impressed with is the fact that before you started working at Black Enterprise you actually were a freelance researcher. I would imagine that had nothing to do with writing a column.
Selena Hill chatting with Karen Civil after Civil received the “Social Influencer Award” at the 2017 TechConneXt Summit
Selena Hill: Yeah so I was freelancing for Black Enterprise for six months, but I was a full-time freelancer. So basically meaning coming in for thirty to forty hours a week, but just you don’t get any of the benefits as a freelancer. So I did that for six months and I still wrote pieces too on my own time. I actually got into a small confrontation with Omari Hardwick when he said something along the lines of: ‘Black Lives Matter is just a hashtag’ and I was like: ‘no you said that to the wrong person.’ I did a whole piece in response to that for Black Enterprise and some other cool stuff, I got to do. And then glory be to God, in six months, that turned into a full-time position when I started working as the associate digital editor in exactly six months, almost. And then almost six months after that, I was then promoted to digital editor, so it has definitely been, I would say I have been on the fast track here at Black Enterprise, but that is by no means the reflection of my entire career. It took years to get to this point. I did not have a full-time position working in media until I was 28. So like, before that, I was working as [an] independent contractor working on independent projects, including my own or working part time or freelancing for other publications. That is really how it worked out.
Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: Did you work anywhere outside of media before you got in?
Selena Hill: Yes. I worked in retail. When I first graduated school, I took an unpaid internship while I was working 50 hours a week and working retail on the weekends. And then once that ended, I was doing the retail full-time for a while and then I got another gig in media. So I was working that gig part-time and I was working retail part-time until I finally got fired from retail and I was like: ‘yay and now I can pursue my dreams full-time.’
Suggested Articles:
The Next Big Showcase’s Cliff Po & DJ Tarzan Making Dreams Reality in NYC & NJ
Scoop B Radio: Turner Sports’ Steve Smith Talks Career & More
You might also like
More from Features
As DOJA CAT Breaks the Charts with Elvis, RESPECT. Rereleases Exclusive Interview!
As our Hip-Hop diva cover girl, Doja Cat, solidifies herself with the most #1 slots for any female at pop …
CASH MONEY Lens Man DERICK G is Photo Rich and Doesn’t Die Tryin’
IN THE DRIVER'S SEAT. Whether he's directing a photo shoot or racing though the streets in his whip, Derick G always …
The Photo Click: BEN WATTS Snaps Hip-Hop Royalty Mary J, Andre 3000 & TI
THIS ENGLISHMAN DOESN’T TAKE PICTURES. He tries to catch lightning in a bottle and then take a flick of that.
