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You know you’re old if when Black History month rolls around, in addition to celebrating the remarkable accomplishments of your race, you find yourself remembering past events in your life which could now, themselves, be classified as historical. Being born during the Great Depression in 1933, the year Prohibition ended, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected for the first of his 4 terms, I was told that my mother rolled me around in one of the baby strollers provided for visitors to Chicago’s Great World’s Fair, an exposition being held on this city’s famous lake front, and whose theme was “a century of progress“, and where she toured one of the exhibits showcasing the progress of the American Negro. This was when my journey through one of the most compelling eras in the American spectrum began, providing the back drop for events that became chapters in the history book of my life. So much of my history centered around my college days because this was when I ventured out into the world and was on my own for the first time and the campus of the University of Illinois was my testing grounds. In the pre-civil rights year of 1951, during my freshman days there, Alpha Kappa Alpha with whom I was affiliated, decided to break precedence and run one of its sorors for Homecoming Queen, something no “negro” girl had ever done. Our candidate was an attractive 19-year-old named Clarice Davis, a good choice who was poised and personable. The panHellenic council which represented all the sororities and Fraternities was one of the organization who oversaw the the voting for this prestigious honor. apparently all the black soririties and fraternities had formed a voting bloc and And damned if it didn’t pay off. When the campaigning was over and the votes were tallied Clarice had won! A fluke? Maybe. But nothing could dampen the joy that filled the ranks of black Illini! We had made history! We had broken the color bar. The rest of the campus was either too miffed or stunned to do anything but accept the result. On homecoming day our regal winner rode in the parade on a float, surrounded by the court of white runners-up. During the half-time ceremonies, however, the tradition of having the captain of the football team crown the queen and plant a kiss on her before presenting her to the crowd, deferred to racial taboos. This honor was instead delegated to Don Stevens, the football team’s star half-back, who because he, too, was black, made him acceptable. Which also made the memorable moment twice as nice! And the following semester when I relocated from the AKA sorority house and again participated in history by being among the first blacks to integrate the womens' dormitories. I always found it ironic how, while Rosa Parks was growing tired of sitting in the back of Montgomery, Alabama’s buses, and Emmett Till was yet to travel down south to meet his doom, and the idea of sit-ins to protest Woolworth’s Jim Crow policy of “whites only” lunch counters, was not yet formulated, I and the rest of my black dorm mates were living in a residence hall with white maid service, eating in a dining room where white waitresses and waiters served us, and having late night hen parties which pesky white coeds wanted to be included in. This quiet before the storm soon erupted. Time marched on and during the turbulent '60s, as part of the mourners that included an honor guard from one of Chicago's most notorious street gangs, The Blackstone Rangers, I found myself staring down into the coffin of Fred Hampton, my lived in my hometown and who'd become Chairman of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party, a martyred young man murdered in his sleep, shot to death by “pigs” in blue uniforms. This tragedy from the past has never lost its relevance in light of Chicago’s ongoing record of police misconduct. In my position as the first black female columnist of the Chicago daily newspaper where my articles appeared, I wrote about such things from a black perspective. Although certain events are just foot notes, I like to think I participated in history by being among the millions to vote for JFK, the first Catholic president, and later for the first black president whose hand I had shaken and grin I’d returned when Barack Obama was still the junior state senator from Illinois. ,I'd seen my brother become our town's first black Chief Electrician, and shared his pride when he was invited to Washington, DC where President Bill Clinton and The Secretary of the Navy belatedly awarded special medals to him and other members of the first all black-manned ship whose outstanding crew performed bravely under combat in the North Atlantic during World War 2. Now, I make history by just waking up in the morning. Hurry, November! Before I croak, I'm curious to see if I will participate in history one last time, perhaps by being a member of a black voting bloc that elects the first woman president. Meanwhile, pardon me Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Ida B. Wells,George Washington Carver, Hattie McDaniel , Paul Robeson, Martin Luther King , Julian Bond, Condoleeza Rice, Toni Morrison, Richard Wright, Jackie Robinson, Serena Williams, and alllll the rest! I’m just trying to squeeze past y’all so I can find a little seat in the back row.

I got a bit verklempt reading this piece of "HerStory". Thank you for sharing you with us! It is amazingly beautiful how being present and deliberate in your steps clears the path for so many to come. Thank you.

Chris, I get your frustration -but it's the nature of media. Your story hasn't placed because you've put too much information in it. A pitch is really a headline such as the one I wrote for you. Once the editor hears it - s/he usually says tell me more. and that's how you know you're going to get placement. Then make sure you have an ear. A lot of folks think "Spray it and pray" but to get coverage it is an intimate conversation with...one news editor/director at a time. Wait? You did a website for a local Oprah ? Please tell me she put you on! Do me a favor, just one favor use the pitch I wrote for you (of course fill in the blanks but don't make it any longer.) Call your favorite local news editor/producer act as your own publicist (meaning you don't have to say you are you unless they ask) and pitch them the story idea. Now one or two things might happen - you'll get the story - but you'll also be ripe for radio/tv/print salesperson to come after you next. Still editorial and sales are supposed to be separate so you'll be able to keep them at bay.

Since this is an open-forum and I'm a stickler for usage I need to recap. Also since we have so many PR peeps such as the PR person who approached you with a lot of misinformation I feel a need for clarity. What's worse she didn't even bother to learn your business before she made a pitch. (Yes, I'm still smarting over that) I want to make sure authors who read this page are equipped with the proper information so they can weed out the competent from the incompetent PR practitioners. Public Relations maintains the public image of the company and is responsible for communicating with the public which includes the stakeholders, customers, clients, etc . Public Relations usually exist under the umbrella of Corporate Communication. You @Troy as the founder seem to be holding down the Corporate Communication department in its entirety. There's Media Relations. Media Relations is a component of Public Relations and the Media Relations specialist maintains a relationship with the Press. Public Relations= Company <-->Publics Media Relations = Company <-->Press Next there's Marketing, Social Media, Advertising & Sales. Social Media is about relationships, warming the market and attracting traffic to your product. At one point, Social Media was relegated to customer service. (I still believe that's the best place but i don't get a vote) Social Media is usually under the Marketing Department but it also has a communication component so often times you'll find Social Media Managers in Corporate Communication. Company=Advertiser <--> Paid spots/space in Editorial Content. The Advertiser is the company and they pay the editorial content owner for spots/or space and s/he earns the ad revenue. For example, those 100 top black websites provide the content and google's AdSense program (contextual advertisements) and amazon associates program (Link Advertisements) provide some of the advertisements. When I was in news, local companies sponsored some of my special projects - that's another form of advertising. Here's where I say remember your goal when using either social media and advertising. Social media : The Content is "what can I do for you..." Advertising: The Content is "here's what you can do for me." Today companies such as Delta Airlines, Marriott, and other large companies also have an internal News department which are headed by a Editorial Director, Senior Manager, News. Again, this all comes under the heading of Corporate Communication. (communication not communications because communications refers to electronic transmissions) In Corporate Communication, the News Department is now packaging their own news content to compete with websites such as the 100 black websites you've mentioned. Check out the Marriott Traveler . Instead of waiting for Conde Nast Traveler to pick up a story on the Marriott; the Marriott said bump this we have our own publication! Packaging and specialization is a surefire way to get traffic both online and off . This is why I packaged Chris in that pitch. No matter how far we get from our origins we still communicate through symbols. Symbols send messages to our subconscious and allow us retain and act on it. Troy, there are so many ways I can package you. For example The Griot, comes to mind When I think of you. I think Troy's the holder of the stories. He's the Digital Librarian, who is bringing writers, readers together and helping us use technology to get the word out about the stories we love - even the stories we write. I suspect folks will never tire of gossip. So yes those 100 top black website may never go out of style. But who cares? We have something else to offer the world so I'll use #KeepPounding and #KeepPushing to remind us to do our thing. But back to Social Media. What's the most effective use of social media? Again, as you noticed Troy - your tweet went viral because it offered a solution to today's burning and trending topic :"Diversity in Media" . Also I have to quote @CDBurns "the Power of a Tweet only works when you’ve truly invested yourself into a community.~ Currently, this is the only community I'm investing in... Why? 1- It is a community. 2- I'm re-learning a lot of what I already know but forgot. 3 -And the information you all are sharing is allowing me to learn a lot more.

Quick tutorial on how to pitch get placed.and get clips.. 1) start w/local media - identify your favorite broadcast station/ tv/radio / print daily, weekly, that also has an online presence and features local stories (all do -but distinguish between syndicated broadcast and local broadcast) who are the decision makers? 2) listen /watch and determine why the news editor/producer choose the local features ? What is the angle of the story? 3) what is the local temperature? What is going on in your area? You have to strike when you know you can capture the mental real estate - mery streep made news and was trending topic yesterday because a reporter used her words as clickbait for his headline (lack of diversity in hollywood is hot topic) ii user the opportunity to promote a book I'm reading. 3) understand what you are selling. - you are NOT selling shoes anymore than nike sells sneakers and athletic wear. Your shoes are the keys that loosed the shackles of the w-2 chains You are not writing blogs or books...you are LEADING A MOVEMENT to help others free themselves from 9 to 5 slavery. In this job market , I just read that eligible workers have given up looking for job - they are the longterm unemployed these folks are your market! Your media pitch? "A Memphis entrepreneur is lacing up his own designed running shoes and lesding others to find their own economic freedom.. CD Burns of (shoe business name) is .teaching young men to become their own boss...and if they become distributors of his product in the process that's just a win win - Burns says it is his way of helping others realize their dream...blah blah... Note: yea I clean up "good" but when I pitch no one sees me - I don't know these folks. so I'm just words. My folks get placed (in print or broadcast) because I fill time and inches. In short, I just help editors get their job done. You can help editors too once you start thinking like them. In the process, you'll get more clips to share with those you are helping to free themselves.

I think the founder of Medium.com who is also twitter co-founder probably thought the same. When a twitter follower urged me to start writing at Medium in 2013, I remember the sign up was through the twitter account. All my twitter followers with Medium accounts became my Medium followers instantly. Now more of my twitter followers are on Medium.com so we are able to tweet stories from each other onto the twitter platform. I'm on twitter strictly because I'm a media junkie, and because Twitter breaks news first and globally. By the way, cool observation. I betcha that's probably why Medium.com was 'born'

It is only difficult because of lack of experience in the media relations arena... The on-air thing came as a result of my marketing gig...I was pitching stories to news before I started reporting it. The news director who hired me noticed I had an eye/ear for news. One gig led to another because I'm writer. So that's my only edge. No influencers; I know what stories to pitch and I know what won't work. Still I pitch stories that editors consider and then kill. I once pitched a story to Black Enterprise about this dude who put together a deal; a big deal for vodafone. It was a great story all the parts where in place and vodafone folks were ok with the publicity but the american contingent ,dude's boss, wouldn't let him take the credit publicly even though it was his deal... Story was dead on arrival. I pitched a story to essence about vasectomies and black men - I had the expert doctors lined up to go on record and everything. I even had young men willing to talk about the snip -the editor was game at first but then she quickly lost interest... The truth of vasectomies I think would be discouraging to her readers but it had a legs... So see these people aren't my friends - they have a job to do and I know how to help them get their job done. When the BE editor picked up my story it was 2006 - no one was doing social selling... it was new and different. But I was actually pitching a story about my client a techie author (it don't get no boring than that lol ) when the editor noticed my HTML email signature promoting my book. It was no big deal to me. I was just getting the word out about my book ...but he liked it did a full page feature on me and my book!!!- and my client got a 1/4 page on a chipset he co-created . Still good though because I'd already placed my client in a full page-picture spread in Ebony. Here's how I pitched him - I told the editor do you know that commercial running about "fewer drop calls in your network" Well Meet my friend, blah blah the black scientist, wireless LAN expert who holds 25 patents to make sure you stay connected.. It was true and verifiable but a scientist doesn't know that's a news story- but a media person does. If I were to look at your stories I'd probably could tell you in a minute who to pitch to and how. Plus there has to be a hook. no one cares if you made a sneaker - no cares that you write articles but there is something about that folks will care about. That's what I do I find that thing that people will want to read. When you pitch a story it has to have two of the three elements - New, Novel or a Change component or it has to be straight out effing shocking.

I saw this a while ago online. I'll definitely support and shared the link on FB. Fans of the Empowerment Experiment .... I'll provide my feedback , about to order now ...

Mel, you're an on-air personality, lol. I think if you couple your tv experience and diverse background you get a pass and you also get extra points for that in the world of media. What you are saying is a lot more difficult for those of us who don't have that connection to media that actually opens doors. I've written countless articles about my experience and this isn't just in regard to my books, but also my footwear company. Social only works with an influencer involved or with those who already have the legs to run with it. For every person that you give as an example of social media I almost guarantee that I can track down their connection to an influencer. This is not me being negative, it's just the reality. Now, I've seen musicians effectively use social to grow without the support of an influencer, but I will say on any day that music is a social creation and it is much easier for people to get on board with a new musician than it is a writer. Writing and reading are solitary actions for the most part. Sharing your emotions about a book (unless it's popular) very rarely gains any legs on social and that's because the words on the page don't translate into the soundbite that a song, or a picture/video can do. Do I think social is critical? Only in that the potential for connection is greater because that is where the people are. BUT and this is a serious BUT, social does not sustain traffic to a website in an organic manner. You will have to continuously produce content for social to keep the traffic and even when you do this based on my stats, the traffic doesn't stay very long when it arrives from social. Search produces visitors that will stay on the site longer than 1 minute. Take a moment to read this post I wrote. Once again, I've been keeping these type of stats for a very long time and this one simply solidified the countless articles about how effective social media is for the regular person. http://www.cbpublish.com/business-how-long-does-a-facebook-visitor-stay/ Now at the same time I do have a post that shows how effective a post or retweet on social media is when it's done by an influencer and this to me proves my point: http://www.cbpublish.com/business-the-power-of-a-tweet/

BLACK MEN, YOUR CHILDREN YOU CREATED,WHETHER FROM LOVE MAKING PLEASURE,OR BRIEF SEX ENCOUNTER,YOUR CHILDREN,TEND TO THIS GARDEN ,THAT YOU SEEDED,/LIKE THE SEEDS NEEDING RAIN,SUNSHINE TO GROW,CHILDREN,ENCOURAGEMENT ,LOVE,NURTURING,WHAT IS NEEDED//LIKE THE SEED GROWS TO A PLANT,THE BOY GROWS TO A MAN.WITH GUIDANCE, STRONG AS TREE HE CAN STAND,/LIKE BEAUTIFUL COLORFUL SPRING FLOWERS THAT GREW./ THEIR JUST AS BEAUTIFUL WITH THEIR BLACK SKIN HUE..WITH EDUCATION AND KNOWLEDGE,THEY LIKE FLOWERS CAN BLOOM.HAVING INNER STRENGTH,FAITH ,THEIR MINDS WANT BECOME WITHERED,BECAUSE OF WHITE SUPREMACY EVIL,BLACK VILLAINS,LEADING THEM TO A CELL,ENTOMBED/HAVING AMBITION A SUCCEEDING PLAN.TO TREAT BLACK WOMEN WITH RESPECT,IF THE SONS FATHER A CHILD,BE RESPONSIBLE,NOT LIKE MANY BLACK MEN ,WHO HAVE RAN///////

The local Oprah has never put me on the show! I would write LOL, but I think that gets my point across. On two separate occasions I've hired and used PR people, one who worked for the local newspaper and nothing came from that. The second was a beginner and I didn't expect much to come from it, I just wanted to help that person out. Let me add this and explain my writing style and why it isn't suitable possibly for "PR". Most of the writing I've done in regard to pitching has been in regard to query letters. While not a PR pitch, they are a bit longer and they deal with an overall summary of the person and the material. My experience in my own PR hasn't been exactly fruitless, but it definitely didn't gain the type of coverage I would have liked, but it's not from a lack of material and information. I do agree that I have so much to talk about that it's overwhelming and possibly hurts my placement, but the irony in that is amazing and it doesn't explain why the guy who created the logo and website for the local Memphis through her growth has never been invited to the show. It also doesn't explain the intentional removal of my name from various stories. I will look at your pitch and consider it when I'm in pitch mode. I'm not right now. I'm in biz mode and creation mode. I think your breakdown is great information for those who are reading and adds tons to the dialogue and it's great to have a professional give insight into this topic. That information is worth thousands of dollars.

I could tell you stories about this process of media and gaining media interest, but doing so would make me sound bitter. I have to say that you are a very interesting subject, but there are more instances of failed social media approaches from the average person than successful approaches. Let me give you one story. I set a guy up to win the Miller Coors Urban Entrepreneur Grant. When he won, my name was completely wiped from the stories. I can't tell you how many times this has happened. Like I said I don't want to sound bitter, but me owning a sneaker company is unique because I am the only Black owned shoe company in the US actually selling shoes with verifiable evidence, so the story in itself is groundbreaking because the only other Black owned athletic shoe company in the last ten years was the sister that ran Dada, and another local company that failed (a documentary was shot on that company), and she was able to garner millionaire support from Chris Webber. My book writing, I don't even push that at all. It's what I do because it's what I do. I have yet to really put a full on effort into it because I focus on the money maker which is my sneaker store (not shoe company because that is a constant struggle). I love your story, and think it's dope, but it's the exception and not the rule. Would I be wrong if I said you are leaving out vital info about your career in pitching stories? Who did you work for? Did you own your company that pitched stories? Or was it just a freelance job you had? The reason I ask this is because it's important to others who are reading to know if the company you worked with had leverage or was your leverage your own? To gain the ear of media companies, your resume has to be strong or the company has to be strong. I'm really intrigued by your ability to gain ground, so I am going to start asking you for stats, lol. These are the stats I'm interested in because these will really tell the tale of social media. How many unique visitors per month does your website get? How many books per month are you selling. Do you have real evidence of Social boosting your sales? I will say this. I do have an aversion to social and using it as a tool because of all of the studies I've done for myself. I won't use Medium because I can't monetize Medium. I won't use Facebook Notes because I can't monetize that either. The only social media site that can be monetized is Tumblr. The rest are basically looking to convert people and there aren't any guarantees on conversion. Do I think you have to have a presence? Yes, because that is where the people are. You have to be where the people are. But if I use my shoes as an example social doesn't do much for me at all. The fact that I have a brand on Amazon has helped me. The majority of my sales are from referrals and because of Amazon ads. The same goes for the books that I sell. Because my work with other people is getting to the point where it can't be ignored, I'm getting sales. Social does introduce some people to the books, but I'm seeing an increase in traffic due to Youtube. YouTube is social, but YT is monetized so I don't mind working on that platform. The honest truth is had I listened to my wife 12 years ago and launched my basketball site through YT, we probably wouldn't have this dialogue. My basketball site got over 1 million uniques per year. It was huge. I made a lot of mistakes, but I definitely say without wavering that an investment into social when I look at the numbers just doesn't pay off. This kind of rambled which supports your jokey joke about my longwindedness, lol. Also, you becoming an on air personality had an added bonus. You're not hard on the eyes ;-) (just kidding).

Below is the truth of SOCIAL MEDIA. This is the crux of that billion word article... (just teasing you) "the Power of a Tweet only works when you’ve truly invested yourself into a community.~ @CDBurns

I did it... and Black Enterprise did a story on me. (Click the black enterprise link) and I was about as unknown as anyone can be when I self-published my first novel . What's worse is my novel dealt with the occult! Do you know how hard it is to sell the occult to a bunch a church going women LOL! I networked with direct marketer who put me on stage; I got social (Xanga, MySpace, Facebook, blogtalkradio, ), Print (Ebony, Black Enterprise, Chicago citizen, ) broadcast (podcasts and radio) and live media exposure..and this was 2006 mind you. My book was even adopted by 2 chicago book clubs. My nielsen bookscan rank was pretty decent in the first 6-months to a year after publishing - and I didn't even actively sell. Soft selling came through my "relationships" and public "appearances". Is it time consuming? Heck yeah! But what else you have to do but sell your product you're an entrepreneur! but to answer your question YOU PREPARE A COMMUNICATION PLAN and follow it! Before I took my 8 year hiatus I handled the media program for others...mostly for creatives and high tech folks though. One of my clients' work is now featured in the Library of Congress. Yep he's immortalized I mentioned for another client/partner , together we built a facebook fan page to 100,000 - and we even had Malcolm Jamar Warner chimed in on our page... But here's the key; you have to know your product and once you do you have to use that information in communication full-court press. One cannot solely rely on one media channel. This is why I said social media is NOT a strategy - it is a tactic in a communication plan. As for twitter accounts, again remember social media has social in it - social = relationship... J.K. recently went to twitter to defend casting a black woman has hermione . She has about 3,000 tweets now. I follow a lot of writers on my twitter account - and some prominent writers (screenwriters, songwriters, politicians) follow me - what I've learned about established writers, such as Hand of God's creator Ben Watkins @_benipedia_ , is they connect for relationships. Ben gets that more of us that reviewed his show on Amazon the better his chances at a second.

"And what I said about the black self-hate and negativity swimming through your post stands." Stop it! You're killing me! Ha! Ha! Ha! It amazes me when intransigent race pride Negroes (like you) are butt hurt because someone eviscerates their arguments. Instead of addressing the issues of disagreement, they resort to personal attacks and their the number one adolescent accusation -You hate yourself!!! WTF??!! Seriously, where does that come from? In all fairness -is that the best you can do??? It makes no sense! If I said, "Ya know, the Raiders suck! They have not had a winning season in over ten years!" The response: "What? Well...sounds like self-hate to me!" Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!