By Isaac Council

This past weekend, Friday, October 2, and Saturday, October 3, the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists held the second annual Emerging Media Diversity Convention. The convention provided media professionals and students with the chance to hone their skills.

The convention kicked off on Friday with a welcome ceremony at CBS studios where this year’s Emerging Media Professional of the Year, Emerging Journalist of the Year and PABJ President’s Award of Excellence were given out to the winners, Ms. Kaila Nicole Baker, Mr. Chilekase Adele and Ms. Jericka Duncan, respectively. 

The award ceremony was followed by the Keynote Conversation where CBS national news correspondent Ms. Jericka Duncan was interviewed about her journey through the media industry by CBS newscaster Ukee Washington. The night ended with time for students and professionals to network with each other.

Saturday’s program, hosted at CCP’s Winnet Student Life building on main campus, began with breakfast and the Fireside Chat where professionals such as PABJ President Mr. Ernest Owens, CBS Multimedia Journalist Chilekasi Adele, Host of City Cast Philly Ms. Trenae Nuri, Founder and Lead Publicist of The Belle Academy Rachael McRae Keith and Account Director at Cashman & Associates Madison Mento informed attendees about what it takes to be successful in the media industry.

Attendees then broke off into one of two tracks, either Journalism/Media Entrepreneur or Journalism/Media Creative, where they were coached on the different facets and paths in the media space by panelists made up of 24 guest speakers. The topics included Media Law & Order, Careers Beyond the Newsroom, How Media Can Survive This Economy and Beyond, and Establishing Your Own Media Brand. After these workshops attendees were treated to lunch and a job fair where various organizations were looking to hire media professionals of various levels.

“I think it was a great space to find where you stand in the diverse world of media,” Aden Kane said. Aden is a Communication & Media Studies student at Community College of Philadelphia.

If you missed this year’s Emerging Media Diversity Convention, and want to get involved with the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists and their upcoming events you can apply to become a member for free at: https://www.thepabj.org/membership-application.html