I’m a Black journalist who’s largely built her career writing stories about race and identity. I began my career in late 2021 when journalism wasn’t in the precarious state it is now. Back then, sometimes all you needed to do to potentially land a story was tweet about your obscure idea, and an editor would request you to send an email about your pitch.

At the time, media outlets were heavily commissioning stories that centred diverse voices. It was the year after the global protests following the murder of George Floyd in 2020. Coverage of race and representation was almost “trendy”. 

My first major story in this space was for Wear Your Voice magazine on the incessant cultural appropriation in K-pop. I spent months working on the story, but just as I was about to file the piece in November 2021, the editors announced that the site was shutting down for good due to financial issues.