Yesha Callahan
Senior Editor
The Root
Rutgers University
Yesha Callahan covers black Twitter, pop culture, and entertainment. “Whether it’s dealing with a popular trending topic (hashtag) or entertainment news, black Twitter is always sure to be at the forefront of the conversation, and I don’t ever see this role changing,” says Callahan, who also predicts an evolution of citizen reporting.
“I think black communities should proactively report what’s going on in their communities. Instead of getting the news from big media companies, we should be able to tell our own stories.”
The Path
“I’ve always been good at crafting stories since I was a young kid, and was never short on opinions. I didn’t take the traditional route of majoring in journalism in college, but majored in Human Resources. Once I was settled in my HR career, I was started freelancing and pitching articles to different publications. Almost 5 years ago, I left HR to write full-time.”
“My first professional break came when Blogher hired me as a Contributing Editor. But in the black media space, the first site I worked for was Clutch Magazine … I don’t think anyone should [work for free]. You have to believe that your work has value, and the page views that your work garner on sites will end in a payoff for the site you’re writing for free for. So of course you should be compensated for your work. Don’t ever sell yourself short. If you’re going to write for “free,” do it for your own site.”
Noteworthy
Prior to joining The Root in 2014, Yesha was a writer for BET’s “Don’t Sleep!” with TJ Holmes as host, and “The Daily Show” co-creator, Madeleine Smithberg as executive producer. Callahan wrote material for the host’s opening monologue, as well as provided segment ideas and scripts. This has prepared her for her current project: “I’m working on a pilot for a major cable network for a late night TV show.”
@YeshaCallahan popular tweet
https://twitter.com/YeshaCallahan/status/740877301513064448
