A lot goes into making a live performance memorable and worthy of watching. Whether it’s the talent that’s being showcased, the set design, or even the use of lighting, everything about making a good show is crucial. What many people may not question is who tackles all of the fine details into producing and designing something like a concert or a live music production. That is where Laura Escudè comes in.  Multi-talented artist and world-famous live show designer, Escudè is a woman with a vision of...

Journalist, podcaster, educator, and social-media maven Ashley C. Ford has written one of the most anticipated memoirs of the season. Somebody’s Daughter (out June 1) chronicles her upbringing in Indiana within a family forever altered by her father’s incarceration. Here, she shares how she gets her many writing jobs done. –Emily RemsYou write in a variety of different arenas—print magazines, websites, anthologies, audio, TV, social media. Did writing your memoir change your routine?I started working on the book before any of my other writing work,...

Book publishing was put under a microscope last year when people started buying up anti-racist titles by the thousands in response to that summer’s Black Lives Matter protests. The result of this scrutiny? A public awareness of just how glaringly white the industry is. Former editorial assistant Zakiya Dalila Harris plunges readers directly into the publishing world with The Other Black Girl, a slow-burning thriller centered on microaggressions and gaslighting with a seriously unsettling twist. Book loving, 26-year-old editorial assistant Nella Rogers is determined to...

Netflix will produce a modern-day remake of Jane Austen’s final novel, Persuasion. The film will star Dakota Johnson as Anne Elliot, a 27-year-old single woman who, while managing her haughty family’s bankruptcy, is reacquainted with a man she was persuaded to break up with eight years prior, giving her another opportunity for love. Unexpectedly, Sex God Henry Golding, who will also star in the remake, will not be playing the main love interest, but rather Anne’s cousin, Mr. Elliot. Cosmo Jarvis is cast as Captain Frederick Wentworth,...

Timeless songs aren't just about whoever happens to be performing them. They're also about catchy song lyrics that have the capacity to make us laugh, cry, and dance like nobody's watching. Songwriting is a craft that should be honored, and listed below are five Black women songwriters who've given us some of the best bops of our generation. Know their names, support their solo work, and take note of just how talented they are.  1. Victoria Monet Born in Georgia and raised in Sacramento, California, this singer-songwriter’s...

Few reality shows are as popular or as divisive as Bravo's Real Housewives, a franchise that has included casts in Orange County, New Jersey, New York, Atlanta, Beverly Hills, DC, Miami, Potomac, Dallas, and Salt Lake City over the past 15 years. Feminist icon Gloria Steinem once criticized this pop cultural phenomenon on E!, saying, "It is women, all dressed up and inflated and plastic surgeried and false bosomed with incredible amounts of money spent, not getting along with each other. Fighting with each other....

This collection of David Bowie covers by an array of artists purportedly seeks to spotlight the late, great performer’s lesser-known appreciation for soul, R&B, jazz, funk, and gospel. But was Bowie’s appreciation for said genres truly obscure? He famously performed on The Dick Cavett Show backed by R&B powerhouse Luther Vandross and was later produced by Nile Rodgers of disco/funk paragon Chic. From the instrumental “Life on Mars” to the milquetoast rendition of “Soul Love,” if there’s an overarching theme here, it’s melancholy. Meshell Ndegeocello...

May is International Masturbation Month! The month is coming (ha) to a close, but there’s still a few more days to celebrate May’s lesser known designation. There’s still quite a bit of stigma surrounding masturbation, and while some people are experts on their own pleasure, not everyone is comfortable exploring or even knows how to start. Regardless of your level of expertise, here are six books to facilitate your exploration of masturbation, sexuality, and reaching better orgasms overall. 1. Getting Off by Jamye WaxmanImage via Seal...

Natalie Morales is learning how to be a master manipulator. Not in real life—IRL she’s an utter delight, with a great big laugh, a genuinely sunny disposition, and a passionate streak for everything from activism to animals. (She speculates her dog Taco was a Buddhist monk in a past life and her cat Axl was a gay porn star from Palm Springs who is “super pissed he’s a virgin and a eunuch in this life.”) But when we chat, the 36-year-old actor, writer, and director has just emerged from editing her second directorial feature, Plan B (coming soon to...

Writer, editor, educator, and social commentator Roxane Gay is really shaking things up in the world of publishing. With notable works such as Bad Feminist, Hunger: A Memoir Of (My) Body, and An Untamed State, Gay has become widely acknowledged as one of the most remarkable thought leaders and changemakers of our time. Her recent big announcement that she’ll be heading her very own publishing imprint is a very powerful indication that Roxane Gay is here to stay, and more importantly, that she’s highly invested in...