Danyel Smith

Journalist Danyel Smith is the author of 'Shine Bright: A Personal History of Black Women in Pop' (Roc Lit 101 / One World / Penguin Random House, June 2021). Danyel’s career has been laser-focused on black creatives making brilliant things. She has interviewed everyone from Janet Jackson to Mariah Carey to Gladys Knight to Simone Biles to Beyoncé. Danyel was an editor and writer at ESPN, a journalism fellow at Stanford, editor of Billboard, and was the first woman and first black person to serve as editor-in-chief of VIBE. She has written two novels — 'More Like Wrestling' (Crown, 2003) and 'Bliss' (Crown, 2005), and is currently host of Spotify’s 'Black Girl Songbook,' a music talk show that centers the sounds and stories of black women. Danyel’s recent work appears in the New York Times Magazine, and at NPR. Her beloved second hometown is Brooklyn, but Danyel is a proud East Oakland native now living in Southern California.