Making it in both the fashion and media industries, notorious for their cutthroat and at times exclusionary nature, is difficult for anyone. It’s especially so for Black fashion journalists, who often find themselves faced with additional pressures to mentor the next generation, balance their own individuality and community, act as advocates while simultaneously producing top-level work and at times, deal with outright racism.

These are all experiences the latest BoF Live guests dealt with firsthand. During the event, Lindsay Peoples Wagner, editor-in-chief of The Cut, Robin Givhan, senior critic-at-large at the Washington Post, writer Constance White, George Wayne, former Vanity Fair columnist and Pierre A. M’Pelé (aka Pam Boy), senior editor at Love magazine joined BoF columnist Jason Campbell and senior correspondent Chantal Fernandez to discuss their entries into the industry and experiences within it as well as how young Black journalists can break in themselves.

Peoples Wagner said instead of thinking much about the restrictions of the industry, she’s guided by the question of how to honour the work of those before her like Givhan and White, who have built formidable careers at places like the Washington Post and New York Times. Likewise, Givhan conceptualises of excelling at her job as a means of serving the next generation.

“I always sort of felt that my responsibility is to my readers. In making that my first responsibility, I felt that that was my way of essentially mentoring, by example,” said Givhan.

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