Back to Reading Credits with Wes Jackson

Nicole Duncan-Smith is an author, reverend and writer and journalist. Over her career, she has worked as an editor and/or writer for the following publications:AtlantaBlackStar.com, OprahDaily.com theGrio.com, BET.com, AllHipHop.com, Rap Pages, Vibe Magazine, The Source, The Source.com.

Ivie Ani is an award-winning, internationally recognized journalist, writer, editor, critic, and on-air host covering culture. Ivie is a Nigerian-American Bronx native and New York University alumna with a dual degree in Journalism and Africana Studies. Her writing has been published in The New York Times Women in The World, The Village Voice, NY Mag, GQ, Teen Vogue, Vanity Fair, VIBE Magazine, The Fader, NBC News, BBC, PAPER magazine, Pitchfork, Complex, LEVEL Magazine, OkayAfrica, Grazia UK, NYU’s Social and Cultural Analysis Journal, and more. She is the former Editor In Chief and Editorial Director of AMAKA Studio and the former Music Editor of Okayplayer, and has held positions at Instagram & Facebook (META), BET Networks, and Associated Press. Most recently, she hosted her own live radio show “In Full Effect” on Amazon Music’s AMP platform.

Ivie has received Harvard's 2022 Eminence Award and has spoken at Harvard University, Yale University, New York University, Wesleyan University, Fordham University, and Howard University. She has moderated panels for Sony Music, Sephora, United Masters, Instagram, Audiomack, AFROPUNK, Afrochella (Afrofuture), Twitter, and more. She's done on-air commentary for ABC News Live, BBC Radio, NPR, BET, Entertainment Tonight, Sirius XM, Genius, Hot 97, MTV News, Netflix, and Revolt TV, with more commentary that has been featured in Nylon, Tidal, The Cut, Bustle, Racked, and more. She's been profiled in The Washington Post & APM Reports podcast and has appeared as a guest-hosted on Red Bull Radio. Ivie speaks on and moderates panels about media, music, journalism, identity, pop culture, the diaspora, and history.

Ivie’s ability to cut through the noise of current events and conversations to offer insight, accurate information, critical analysis, and pointed discourse sets her apart from her contemporaries. She is a trained and decorated journalist with 10 years of experience in traditional print, digital media, the red carpet, radio, broadcast, and beyond. Ivie sets the tone and the bar for culture reporting, criticism, and tastemaking to enlighten, engage and produce work with a purpose.

Ivie Ani is an award-winning, internationally recognized journalist, writer, editor, critic, and on-air host covering culture. Ivie is a Nigerian-American Bronx native and New York University alumna with a dual degree in Journalism and Africana Studies. Her writing has been published in The New York Times Women in The World, The Village Voice, NY Mag, GQ, Teen Vogue, Vanity Fair, VIBE Magazine, The Fader, NBC News, BBC, PAPER magazine, Pitchfork, Complex, LEVEL Magazine, OkayAfrica, Grazia UK, NYU’s Social and Cultural Analysis Journal, and more. She is the former Editor In Chief and Editorial Director of AMAKA Studio and the former Music Editor of Okayplayer, and has held positions at Instagram & Facebook (META), BET Networks, and Associated Press. Most recently, she hosted her own live radio show “In Full Effect” on Amazon Music’s AMP platform.

Ivie has received Harvard's 2022 Eminence Award and has spoken at Harvard University, Yale University, New York University, Wesleyan University, Fordham University, and Howard University. She has moderated panels for Sony Music, Sephora, United Masters, Instagram, Audiomack, AFROPUNK, Afrochella (Afrofuture), Twitter, and more. She's done on-air commentary for ABC News Live, BBC Radio, NPR, BET, Entertainment Tonight, Sirius XM, Genius, Hot 97, MTV News, Netflix, and Revolt TV, with more commentary that has been featured in Nylon, Tidal, The Cut, Bustle, Racked, and more. She's been profiled in The Washington Post & APM Reports podcast and has appeared as a guest-hosted on Red Bull Radio. Ivie speaks on and moderates panels about media, music, journalism, identity, pop culture, the diaspora, and history.

Ivie’s ability to cut through the noise of current events and conversations to offer insight, accurate information, critical analysis, and pointed discourse sets her apart from her contemporaries. She is a trained and decorated journalist with 10 years of experience in traditional print, digital media, the red carpet, radio, broadcast, and beyond. Ivie sets the tone and the bar for culture reporting, criticism, and tastemaking to enlighten, engage and produce work with a purpose.
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Stacy Barthe's Grammy's and Awards

• Beyonce' - Brown Skin Girl
• H.E.R. - Lucky.
• Best song in a movie for Queen and Slim: Collide
• Soul Train award for Songwriter of the Year.

Songwriting comes easy for the Brooklyn-born , Haiti raised Grammy award winning Stacy Barthe who scored her first professional opportunity while working as an intern for Jive Records when she was a student at St. John’s University. After collaborating with Hit-Boy, Barthe gradually built a discography with credits for Rihanna, Katy Perry, Britney Spears, and Brandy. She began her gradual ascent in the music industry as a songwriter in 2007 when she signed with Universal Music Publishing Group and wrote "Blur" for Britney Spears' "Circus" album. Stacy soon became a frequently spotted name on composer credits for songs by high-profile artists such as Cheryl Cole ("Heaven"), Katy Perry ("Hummingbird Heartbeat"), Rihanna (the number seven hit "Cheers [Drink to That]"), Kelis ("22nd Century"), Estelle ("Speak Ya Mind"), Alicia Keys (two songs on Girl on Fire), and T.I. ("Sorry"). Miley Cyrus’s song “Adore You,” the first track on her Bangerz album, was not originally intended for the pop star. Stacy penned the ballad for herself, and planned to include it on one of her projects, but Cyrus was determined to record the ballad. “It was supposed to be the first track on [my EP] P.S. I Love, and when Miley heard it she was like, 'Um, I need that,’” Barthe explains during an exclusive interview with Yahoo Music. “And then I was like, 'Babe, it’s the first song on my EP.’ So she doubled back with the producer, they cut it on their own, and she let me hear it. And she was like, 'Before you shoot me down, just hear it.’ And she killed it, so I was like, ‘Anybody who’s going to go through that much trouble to get the song, babe, you can have it.” Stacy eventually turned a collection of her unused songs into her 2011 debut EP, "Sincerely Yours, Stacy Barthe," and put out additional sets. As a solo artist, she has released a number of independent projects, including "Sincerely Yours" (2011), "Stacy Barthe" (featuring appearances from Frank Ocean and Luke James, 2010), "In the Inbetween" (2012), and "P.S. I Love You" (2013). On March 12, 2015, French future house producer Tchami released the song "After Life" which featured Stacy's vocals, and received over 8 million plays on SoundCloud as of April 2016. Now it is well over 30 million. Continuing her interstellar trajectory, Stacy signed to the storied Motown label and released "BEcoming" (2015) which features Common and also a duet with John Legend who is co-executive producer. The production transcends traditional R&B to include a sophisticated blend of classical, rock, folk, and pop music that at times is reminiscent of Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Sade, Tracy Chapman, Bjork, and India.Arie. The lyrical content, however, deals with the heavy issue of self-esteem. Barthe recounts a suicide attempt on opening track, “My Suicide Note”; grapples with insecurities elsewhere; and eventually moves to a better place on “Find It,” which urges her audience to “find a new way to live.” She takes an equally uplifting perspective on “Flawed Beautiful Creatures,” which is also the theme song of the television show "Being Mary Jane" starring Gabrielle Union. In July 2015, Stacy's album "BEcoming" reached number 92 on the Billboard 200. In the following years, Stacy would expand her repertoire to encompass music beyond R&B including hip hop songs with iconic rappers like Nipsey Hussle in America, EDM songs with superstar DJs like David Guetta in Europe, dancehall songs with major MCs like Shaggy in the Caribbean, and Afrobeats songs with African legends D'Banj and Tiwa Savage.

With too many accolades to mention during the global expansion of Stacy's sound across various musical genres, a near sacred project that she wrote and sang on Nipsey Hussle’s "Victory Lap" (2019) went platinum in early 2020 following his untimely passing. When Stacy bumped into Beyoncé at rapper Nipsey Hussle’s funeral in LA in April 2019, it led to her being invited to pen songs at a writing camp at Beyoncé’s studio. The project? “The Lion King: The Gift”. On her birthday, Stacy wrote (the day the album was also released): "Dear Beyonce, I had given up on songwriting. You changed that for me when I reconnected with you at @nipseyhussle ‘s funeral. Life was taken and then given. This gift reminded me of why I do this. We’re part of something way bigger." Selected from literally 100s of songs, Stacy’s compositions, “Bigger” and “Brown Skin Girl” were chosen for “The Gift”. If this wasn't enough for the talented Stacy Barthe, on March 18, 2020, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the New York Post selected "BEcoming" as one of the "10 albums to crank up while coronavirus has you stuck at home" as NYC was the epicenter of the coronavirus at the time and now has flattened the curve while other states reach record infections; based on the poignant messages of her heartfelt songwriting, perhaps Stacy's music played a part in NYC finding its healing thru her music. Among her new releases, "Shoot" (2020) epitomizes the sentiment of people of color in the face of brutal police violence and systemic racism. Deep, resilient and grounding, "Shoot" keeps the pace of the movement as steady as a heartbeat. Stacy always adds clarity and drama to anything she lends her voice to; this slave-spiritual-channeling protest anthem is no exception. "I don't know 'bout y'all / But my back got tired/ Tired of buildin' this country up / Still they tell us we ain't enough / Tired of all of these buildings/ Rather be dead than mistreated / So tonight I'm leaving / Thinkin' bout 10 in the evening." Currently, Barthe has just partnered with Sean Love Combs aka Diddy for her next release which is set to release in The summer of 2023.

The first official U.S. Hip Hop ambassador, Toni Blackman, has not only traveled to 50 countries around the world but rocked Summerstage events, performed at the UN, Town Hall NYC, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Apollo Theater, 9:30 Club in DC, the Roxy in L.A., the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, BRIC, and Lincoln Center. This year Toni has hosted and performed at the UN, on Broadway and the Def Poetry Jam Reunion. Multi-talented, this pioneer in Hip Hop theater and Hip Hop education, has worked both behind and in front of the camera. She’s an artist and a visionary.

Creator of Rhyme like a Girl and The Freestyle Union, Toni recently worked as the Spoken Word/Rap Coach for Kwame Alexander’s Emmy Award winning Disney series, The Crossover. Creator and co-host of Lyrical Meditation Cypher Podcast. Author of Innercourse (Villard/Random House), her new book, Wisdom of the Cypher, (Red Sky Presents, released March 2024). An Echoing Green Fellow Alum, Toni served as the keynote for Warner Music’s Social Justice Summit and her Hip Hop Meditation Music series was supported New York State Council on the Arts. This Howard University graduate was recently selected for a SheStories Grant with Big We Foundation.Toni is a bi-continental woman living between Brooklyn, NY and Dakar, Senegal.

Laurie Cumbo was appointed as the Commissioner of Cultural Affairs for the City of New York by Mayor Eric Adams in March 2022.

Laurie Angela Cumbo previously served as majority leader in the New York City Council and represented the City Council’s 35th district for eight years. She wrote over forty laws and resolutions in that role, including creating the first-ever Mayor’s Office to End Gun Violence and the Mayor’s Office of Victim Services. Cumbo focused her career on institution building and worked diligently throughout her tenure in the City Council to secure permanent cultural homes for the Noel Pointer Foundation, Ifetayo Cultural Arts Center, the West Indian American Day Carnival Association, African Voices Magazine, Creative Outlet Dance Company, Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA), 651 Arts, the Brooklyn Music School, The Brooklyn Pride Center and Digital Girl.

Prior to her time in the City Council, Cumbo founded MoCADA in Brooklyn and previously worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the High Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Brooklyn Children’s Museum. At MoCADA, Cumbo was instrumental in expanding the museum to a newly renovated space at the James E. Davis 80 Arts Building in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, and pushed to build a multimillion-dollar, state-of-the-art museum into its new home in the BAM South Building in partnership with BAM, The Brooklyn Public Library, and 651 Arts.

Cumbo is a lifelong Brooklynite. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History from Spelman College and a Master of Arts degree in Visual Arts Administration from New York University.