Black Women in Media
The Resource Guild, a 360 brand management, lifestyle marketing, and strategy consulting agency, hosted its monthly Black Media Mixer ATL series at the Rolling Out office on March 25, 2025. To match the theme of March, the most recent mixer was a women’s edition.
The media mixer featured powerhouse Black women in media where they shared what it means to be in their position, their work, and how they’re navigating the field.
The panel featured Amazon Senior Manager of Global Communications and Head of Black Media Engagement, Nikki Forman; award-winning arts and entertainment journalist for Hollywood Reporter, Ronda Racha Penrice; award-winning producer for CNN, Shavalerie Thurman; and Travel Journalist Diana O’Gilvia. Resource Guild Founder Daniel Dickey moderated.
Honesty, Transparency, and Resilience
Each woman was open and honest with the audience, sharing challenges and how they’ve overcome them in the workplace.
Forman took time to find her voice in the corporate space. Through continuous confidence-building and overcoming fear, she pitched Amazon a strategy to connect with more Black-owned media, leading to the creation of her latest role with the company. She aims to ensure Black representation at Amazon, especially through storytelling.
“I want to make sure that Black journalists have those stories too,” said Forman.
Forman also mentioned how she’s had to move seven times within seven years.
“I have to be in these rooms. It’s a sacrifice…it’s a necessary journey I have to take,” Forman said.
Penrice is a writer at the core and has been in the journalism industry for over a decade, covering Black culture. Her coverage gives a wider perspective of the Black community.
“No one of us can be the total of us,” said Penrice.
She’s a graduate of Columbia University and has written for multiple outlets, including EBONY, UptownMagazine.com, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Essence.com, The Root, theGrio, and AOL Black Voices. Penrice said her longevity in the field comes from perseverance and being herself.
“Being yourself is always going to benefit you,” said Penrice.
Thurman has years of producer experience working for Turner, Scripps, theGrio, and Fox Soul. In a fast-paced media industry focused on views, Thurman said its time to create our own storytelling platforms.
“We have to start thinking about how we can come up with our own,” said Thurman.
O’Gilvia uses the power of the written word to expose readers to the beauties of the world. She said its the duty of the writer to choose what lens they write in because it all comes down to perspective.
“It’s just being careful of what you put in the lens,” said O’Gilvia.
Each of the women left the room feeling inspired and ready to collaborate.
Over Three Years of Connecting
Dickey has been hosting the Black Media Mixers ATL for around four years. He started them to bring more cohesion between the community, creatives, and the media.
The Black Media Mixers ATL series is hosted monthly. To find out the next meet-up, click here.
