The Source’s Interview with a Black Enterprise Editor about Being a Millennial Digital Journalist

Black Enterprise’s very own Digital Editor, Selena Hill, was recently profiled in the “Her Source” section of TheSource.com, where she spoke about her career as a multi-media journalist. Check it out below.

Selena Hill is the walking definition of today’s journalist. She is an African-American woman, millennial, and multi-media journalist from Queens, New York. Hill is armed with a smart phone that becomes a voice recorder to capture audio and camera where she can shoot videos and take pictures. With it, she is able to conduct her work and transition different platforms throughout the week. Hill sat down with The Source to talk about her life as a multi-media journalist.

The Source: You do so many things from reporting the news, co-hosting a radio show and a podcast, contributing to a culture and society program on television, and now co-hosting a web news show that broadcasts on the internet. How would you label yourself?

I label myself as a multi-media journalist. I am the digital editor at Black Enterprise, Executive Producer and Co-host on Let Your Voice Be Heard Radio on WHCR (90.3 FM) in New York City, and a Contributing Reporter on What’s Eating Harlem on NYC Life. Black Enterprise is mostly business news. I edit stories, write my own, and cover different events around the country. I also work with our contributing writers. On my radio show Let Your Voice Be Heard, we talk about social issues from a millennial perspective in a very raw way. I mainly coordinate the show. I do most of the guest booking, help plan out the segments, and train the interns. On the show we interviewed Senator Cory Booker, Russell Simmons, and Mayor Bill De Blasio, just to name a few of the guests. On What’s Eating Harlem, my specific segment focuses on style and fashion and I interview movers and shakers in the community. I also book guests for my segment and fill in sometimes for the main host Vanessa Tyler, a veteran journalist.

The Source: How would you define a millennial journalist?

Selena Hill: I take my role and career very seriously. I always felt that I wanted to be a voice for the voiceless. My radio show allows me to do that the most because I have control over it. In today’s world, news is more opinionated. People want you to be authentic. I’m not afraid to take certain positions and speak my mind. That’s something that journalism needs. My grandmother used to watch Fox News and I saw how her views changed. I think it’s important to state my opinion and include that in my work, it’s more of a service to people.

The Source: As a journalist who covers different topics on different platforms you must get a lot of story pitches, invites to events, etc. What is your email inbox like?

Selena Hill: For my Black Enterprise email, I try to keep it to less than ten unread emails per day. For my personal email, I have over 8,000 emails and they are an accumulation of story pitches, junk email, and invitations to events, etc. So it’s hard to keep up with that.

The Source: There is so much competition in the media landscape now and there are more voices fighting for their place in this new landscape. How do you view competition?

Selena Hill: Competition is not really relevant. Society teaches us there can be only one female black journalist and that’s just not true. I honestly think that there is room for all of us. My goal isn’t to beat the best, I just want to be the best I can be.

Read the entire interview at The Source.