DANYEL SMITH

Speaker + Author + Music Journalist + Novelist + Producer

Located near: Los Angeles, California

Invite Danyel to Speak at Your Event

Speaking topics

Black cultural history
Music history
Hip-hop, rap, r&b and soul
Black women
Nonfiction and fiction writing
Journalism

Event Types

KEYNOTES
LECTURES
FIRESIDE CHATS
PANELS
WORKSHOPS
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
BOOK TALKS & READINGS
VIRTUAL EVENTS
MODERATION
INTERNATIONAL EVENTS
FESTIVALS
INTERVIEWS

Danyel is one of the nation’s most astute chroniclers of pop and hip-hop culture. — The New Yorker, 2022

Award-winning journalist Danyel Smith is author of the critically-acclaimed Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop. Danyel is also creator/host of the popular Black Girl Songbook, a podcast that centers the sounds and stories of black women (Spotify Original). Danyel’s CV includes being a producer and writer at ESPN, a Knight fellow at Stanford University, an arts fellow at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, and a 2021 Yaddo fellow. She was editor of Billboard, and the first woman and first black person to serve as editor-in-chief of VIBE. She has written two novels — More Like Wrestling and Bliss, and Danyel’s recent work appears in the New York Times, LitHub, The New Yorker, New York Times Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, and at NPR. Danyel lives in Southern California with her husband.