Written by Jayona Monique Dorsey
Writer, Creative Strategist, and Cultural Storyteller.
Hampton University, Class of 2027
Strategic Communications major, concentrating in Public Relations with a minor in Marketing.

From Howard University to Essence Magazine, viral storytelling, and conversations at the intersection of culture and capital, Blake Newby has built a career that refuses to stay in one lane. But behind the titles and opportunities is a woman who has had to learn when to take up space, when to pivot, and how to trust the person she was becoming. Before the bylines, celebrity interviews, and career spanning media, beauty, and business, there was a girl who knew she was meant for something bigger. She didn’t know exactly what that would look like, but she knew she wanted to be somebody people knew. Somebody whose work made an impact.

“It can be so cliché when people say it. But I always knew,” Newby says.

“There’s just always been this gnawing feeling in me that I was meant for something really big, always.”

She wanted to be a model at one point, then imagined herself pursuing one career after another that would put her in the spotlight.

“Every single career path that I’ve wanted, it has been something front-facing, it’s been something where people would know me, or I would have impact, always,” she says. “I knew that I wanted to be impactful. I knew that I wanted to be in a position where I could make an impact.”

That ambition eventually led her to journalism. After watching Soledad O’Brien’s Black in America in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Newby became drawn to the way O’Brien told stories about the Black experience.

“I loved the way that she told stories, I loved how authentic the storytelling was, I loved how unafraid she was of her storytelling, and I wanted to be the next Soledad O’Brien,” she says.

Her understanding of journalism has since grown beyond the appeal of being in front of a camera. Today, she sees it as essential to creating space for Black people to document the world and tell their own stories. 

With deep SpelHouse ties, that understanding of storytelling and representation was already part of the foundation she carried with her to Howard University. Her father was president of the Morehouse Business Association, while her mother was Miss Business Association and second runner-up for Miss Maroon & White at Spelman.

The Atlanta University Center could have been the natural next chapter of her family’s story, but Newby chose to forge her own path at Howard, where she found a community and an experience uniquely her own. And college Blake? “Busy would be an understatement.”

“I joined the Freshman Leadership Academy as a freshman, I joined every organization, I was a student volunteer for the Links Incorporated, I was HUSA, I was the homecoming vice-chair, I pledged as a senior,” she says.

“Quite literally anything you could think of socially, Blake did.”

Her uncle Charlie, also a Howard graduate, recognized just how much she had taken on. During her senior year, he told her she had “sucked every single thing out of” her Howard experience. Newby doesn’t disagree.

“I just loved Howard,” she says.

“Howard just had so many opportunities for me, opportunities to meet new friends, opportunities career-wise, opportunities through community service, opportunities through Greek life.”

She laughs at the possibility that someone might have described her as a busybody, but explains that her involvement came from a genuine desire to experience everything Howard had to offer. She didn’t arrive with an agenda to join Greek life or collect positions. She was eager to get involved and make the most of every opportunity available to her. 

“I came from parents who understood the value, not just of the education that you get at an HBCU, but the social aspect as well,” she says.

“I am a firm believer that me being a busybody, me joining everything” was part of what made her experience so meaningful. And while the organizations and opportunities gave her plenty to do, it was the people who ultimately shaped her. Newby describes the Howard network as “one of the most remarkable networks in the world”, pointing to the relationships, professional connections, and friendships that have continued to influence her life. 

“I think that being surrounded by people who are just as gritty, just as ambitious, just as no nonsense, even though we were so young and we didn’t know what we really wanted, what we really needed, that is what it gave me,” she says.

“It gave me a network that was able to mold a girl who always had the foundation. It was Howard that built on top of that foundation.”

But even a college experience filled with opportunity had its moments of self-doubt. Despite everything she accomplished, Newby remembers the positions she didn’t pursue and the roles she convinced herself she wasn’t good enough to take on.

“There were a lot of instances where I played very small at Howard,” she says.

Moving to New York just three weeks after graduation made her realize that if she wanted the life she envisioned, she had to stop questioning whether she deserved it.

“If I’m going to live this life that I’m destined for, I have got to stop playing it so small,” she recalls thinking. 

Newby doesn’t sugarcoat her early professional experiences. She was 22 and still figuring things out. By 24, she had left Glamour, a job she remembers as one of the most difficult experiences of her career. “The people at Glamour fired me. I couldn’t stand them. They couldn’t stand me. ”At the time, she thought the experience meant she would never work in the industry again. But after several years of freelancing and writing for different publications, she found herself content with the work she was doing and began planning a move back to Washington, D.C. Three months before that move, the Essence offer came.

“The trajectory of my career changed when I started becoming content in the discontentment,” she says. Looking back, she doesn’t separate the difficult experiences from the opportunities that followed.

“I needed all of it, all of it, how much I disliked it, all that I learned, the women that I had to interact with on a day to day, all of it,” she says.

“I can say undoubtedly I would not be here if it wasn’t for the roles and the jobs that in the moment I felt like I hated.”

Her career also began to look different as the media industry itself changed. Newby had once made becoming a beauty and fashion director her number one career goal. She accomplished that at 27, but as traditional editorial media changed, she began to recognize that her storytelling would have to exist beyond the page.

“I realized that there wasn’t real longevity in it,” she says of the editorial landscape.

“But the need for journalism was not going to change. The need for good storytelling was not going to change. It was just going to have to evolve.”

 That evolution also meant understanding that choosing yourself sometimes looks like walking away from something you once worked hard to achieve.

“I think sometimes giving up certain things is like that. That is the choosing. That is you choosing yourself,” she says.

“I think you have to take inventory of how you feel and what you need.” 

Her first viral story, Why I’m Done Supporting Beauty Brands That Don’t Support Me, became another turning point. Published in 2020, the piece addressed the Black experience with beauty brands amid conversations about racial justice and corporate accountability. Its response showed her she didn’t have to soften her perspective to succeed.

“As Black women, not only had we been told to shrink, but it was like, don’t be too political. Don’t say too much,” she says.

“It showed me that I could be a little bit more fearless in my storytelling, in the things that I post,” she says.

“I can become very popular by not playing it so safe.”

That willingness to take up space in her work has also shaped how Newby sees herself. When asked about her relationship with confidence and belonging, she reflects on how much has changed.

“Honestly, I think this is the first year where I am so settled into self,” she says.

Part of that shift has been recognizing her own role in her accomplishments.

“Blake, that was because of you, that wasn’t because of them,” she says.

That sense of ownership extends to the personal brand she has built through platforms like TikTok. Newby has seen women trust her recommendations and connect with her perspective, something she values more than turning her page into a constant sales pitch.

“I’m just telling you guys what I love because I think you all will love it too,” she says.

She sees personal branding as a way to create opportunities beyond traditional employment, especially in creative industries. Her perspective has also expanded through her proximity to venture capital and investment, where she has gained a closer understanding of the challenges facing Black-owned businesses.

“This money business is a beast,” she says.

For someone whose career has moved through so many different spaces, adaptability has become essential. Newby admits she isn’t naturally someone who trusts the process. She plans every aspect of her life, but things rarely unfold as expected.

“I have my entire life planned out, every aspect, every day, every moment, and nothing has gone as planned,” she says.

Still, she has learned to approach unexpected turns as opportunities to figure out what comes next.

"I could not have become who I was supposed to become today if I was not agile,” she says. “I’m very much somebody that’s like,‘OK, that didn’t work. Great. Let’s pivot.’”

And if she has to do it again?

“I pivoted so many times. If I had to pivot again, then I would just do it again.”

The girl who once wanted to be the next Soledad O’Brien has discovered that her voice can take her far beyond the newsroom. The Howard student who sometimes questioned whether or not she was good enough has learned to stop playing small. Blake Newby may not have followed the exact path she imagined, but the ambition that was there from the beginning has never left. It has simply grown alongside her, finding new rooms, new audiences, and new ways to make an impact.