Get to Know the Trending Author Behind Your Favorite Celebrity Profiles and Sites
Brooklyn White joins a line of black women writers paving the way in journalism.
WHAT COLOR DEFINES BROOKLYN WHITE?
Light pink. It is a color associated with love and it mixes red and white.
Red is the passion and fire for what you're doing and white is a clean slate. I think the idea is white is pure. White and black and represent a clean slate and as an artist, there's nothing I love more than to see a blank piece of paper I can fill up.
I think it's a metaphor for life because we come here as blank canvases and we have as much time to wipe our slates clean. This is why I choose light pink.
Artists Solange Knowles and Erykah Badu, author Meena Harris, and actor Jéan Elie are just a handful of celebrities and public figures Brooklyn White has either interviewed and/or worked for in a journalistic capacity.
White is the 25-year-old first-ever Girls United generation Z editor for Essence and the publication’s associate editor. Her stories supersede virality by both maintaining and directing the flow of cultural hums within the black community. She dons herself the black IMDb and her audience agrees.
“I’ve always had the privilege of being able to tell black stories,” White told Palette. “The first site I wrote for was Solange. I always had the ability to be true to myself and pursue it in my work — not digging into trauma.”
White candidly describes herself as a nerd who adores books, searching through Google, flipping through old magazines, and connecting with past and current events. She also describes embracing the online spaces we currently inhabit.
“I’ve been on the internet since I was a little kid and even before social media,” White said. “I knew social media would shift the way we connect with each other, think about each other, and share information. And I had that understanding we were in an image-driven world.”
White attended a performing arts elementary school, where she was encouraged to be involved in art and its various forms. She recalls being drawn to art before she could even speak and being influenced by a black woman artist she went to church with.
“Tamysha worked primarily with painting,” White said. “She did some pieces for my aunt and she inspired me. She also inspired me because she had a gold tooth and I thought she was glamorous.”
White was mentored from her second or third grade by Tamysha until middle school and continued on to take art classes for her entire education.
“I feel like I learned art from a black perspective and that became my primary way to express myself,” White said.
She tapped into music not long after and began mixing rhymes to rhythms when one summer in Dallas she got her first taste at yet another calling.
“It’s a crazy story,” White began. “I was 20 years old and living in Dallas with my mom when her downstairs neighbor got diagnosed with breast cancer. She was in school and had taken a loan or a grant for the year and so she was responsible for that year to continue her work.”
White helped the downstairs neighbor for about a month by writing essays until her summer break started. By fall, White moved to New York but her work with the neighbor continued.
“She bought me a computer,” White said. “At the time, I was still focused on making music. I was young and had that crazy fire but I felt like [the music] wasn’t getting me where it needed to and I wasn’t making any money.”
White was on Twitter and saw Solange was looking for a social media editor and writer. She tapped into her experience working with the neighbor, along with her joy of sharing opinions on current events with friends — “I got in a big argument about ‘Hotline Bling’ being the song of the summer once,” White said — to apply for the position with Solange.
“I said, if I can stand here and articulate my thoughts, why not write it down,” White said.
Sure enough, the position was hers. From there, White worked as a writer for events, worked in public relations, and then found her footing in freelance writing.
“I didn’t think I'd be writing; I feel like it just came to me,” White said, later adding her debut work with Ms. Badu earlier this year was her “big one.”
White joins a growing line of other black women writers paving the way in the world of celebrity profiles and the journalism industry.
On May 15, writer Wanna Thomspon tweeted her debut work with the women of color centered digital platform Zoramag. A platform spearheaded by Vanessa De Luca — the previous editor-in-chief of Essence. Thompson tweeted her latest accomplishment interviewing actress Gabrielle Union for Zora and Union responded.
“Thank you so much for this interview!!!!! After some interviews, you can just feel terror,” Union tweeted. “The anxiety of possibly being misunderstood. During and after this interview I only felt peace. Seriously, thank you.”
Thompson began writing in high school but started professionally about two years ago. When Union thanked her publicly for the interview, saying she felt calm during it, Thompson expressed glee.
“I appreciated her words beyond measure because we all know journalists rarely receive that type of support,” Thompson said to Palette. “She didn’t have to do what she did but she went out her way to let it be known.”
Thompson continued, “During our interview, I was prepared and professional but she made me feel like I was talking to a close friend. There were a lot of jokes and laughs exchanged despite the vulnerable subject and I appreciated her honesty. So, to see her so loudly amplify me the way she did was one in a million. I hope to continue to provide peace to anyone I interview.”
Black women journalists are creating spaces for one another within a still sheltered industry. Black women like White, Thompson, Zeba Blay, Sylvia Obell, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Doreen St. Felix, and many more. Though Thompson hopes to see more opportunities awarded to black women beyond freelancing — “I would love to see more black women be hired as staff writers and editors. I would also love to see more stories [that] revolve [around] black celebrities and/or music artists written by black women,” Thompson said — she remains hopeful.
“I love it; black women are the culture, black women are the movers and shakers, black women set the trends,” Thompson said. “To see black women writers secure editorial opportunities makes my heart warm. Do I believe more opportunities can be extended? Yes. But, I’m happy we’re taking up space and rightfully so.”
And viewers appear to be just as joyful as well.
Earlier this year, artist and talk show host, Keke Palmer, interviewed fellow artist Jessica Simpson. The interview went viral on Twitter as viewers congratulated Palmer for maintaining a “genuine” composure — watching the interview, Simpson appeared more relaxed and engaged in the conversation being had.
“There’s a certain type of lived experience we as black women share,” Thompson said. “So, when we are tasked to interview celebrities in these editorials … We’re able to approach conversations in a way non-black writers couldn’t fathom.”
As White explains, it is all rather internal and based on instinct.
“Me, personally, I always approach a profile from a place of empathy,” White said on the matter. “I think black women have a sense of empathy when it comes to journalism and profiles. Black women are comfortable in their role as writers and so it kind of comes off in the process.”
White continued, “I don’t see the point in asking hard-hitting questions based on gossip to harm the subject — I leave that for the blogs, not to talk down on them, but blogs have the ability to do that.”
But, White also says the ways of editorial writing has changed and notes a loss in its current form.
“I think magazines have shifted and so the culture of documenting celebrities' lives and reporting have changed dramatically,” White said. “When I was younger, I’d read profiles by Danyel Smith in VIBE Magazine, where they'd spend days with the subject, and now I think we do a lot more of our work over the phone.”
She continued, “I think there’s a sense in poetry in how writing has changed. I think profiles aren't as poetic as they once were and I think they've altered because of budgeting. Legacy magazines still follow celebrities around but things have changed because we've changed as well.”
Despite this shift, White says the basics for celebrity profiles remain the same.
“I do as much research on the person. I read old interviews because I know celebrities hate when you ask the same questions,” White said. “[In the interview], I just want to listen more than I'm talking; it’s a conversation and so I give them the space to talk. If they wanna talk about something not on my list of questions they can.”
Ultimately, White says on her path from being a nerd, to being inspired by a glamorous churchgoer, to finding her footing in the world of writing, she remains happy she listened to her inner self and knew when to shift gears. She also tells readers to know when to do the same.
“I felt like I was trying to push a square leg into a peg hole. I want people to know not to be afraid to expand and try something new,” White said. “I had no idea writing would play such a huge role in my life.”
She continued, “This year will mark five years doing it professionally. I took a leap of faith; I think it's important for people to be honest with themselves. Give up the idea you're a failure if you try something new.”
As for black women writers, White’s message on empathy remains.