e s s a y s

I was on staff at Columbia University when I decided my first publishing job would be at Essence or Black Enterprise magazine. That was in 1989. An English professor suggested I pursue writing based on my grades in her class. Soon, I swapped majors, from Computer Science to English and Comparative Literature. I was fascinated by the authors of the Harlem Renaissance and toyed with becoming a poet. In 1990 I joined the staff of Essence. I never wrote for that women’s lifestyle magazine, but I ferociously studied the inner-workings of publishing. Fourteen years later I was inducted to the rank of contributing writer at Black Enterprise, which sent me on assignments in Thailand, Hawaii, France, Belize, the Caribbean and South Africa. I produced over 90 articles for Black Enterprise and over 150 photo-essays for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The ability to write a narrative that compliments what my eyes see and my mind questions is a gift that I don’t take for granted.

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Artist Peter Minshall.