“I’m proud to call myself a journalist, and even more proud that I became one in college, with the help of the journalism minor. I primarily write about arts and culture, and I consider race and gender issues as I do it. One of the first journalism classes I took at Wake Forest was called “Writing for a Social Purpose”—I always want to be doing public interest work, even if I’m writing about a rap album. For sites like Elle.com, Essence.com and Okayplayer.com, I’ve written about books, songs, poems and shows that offer black healing, I’ve interviewed popular television star Kofi Siriboe, and I’ve reported on conversations between polymath Questlove and some of the greatest minds in film and TV. Though she’s not a journalism faculty member, Politics and International Affairs professor Dr. Melissa Harris-Perry opened incredible doors for me because of her experience in media, too. Journalism being offered as a minor at Wake Forest, and not a major, pushed me to explore the interests behind the pieces I write. I was a Politics and International Affairs major, I took classes in the Schools, Education, and Society program, and those experiences, combined with my journalism training, gave me the confidence to write meaningful pieces about activism, school pushout, and black womanhood. And because my journalism minor prepared me to write news, develop analysis, and create branded content, I’m looking forward to long, diverse career in media. I want to do it all, and I know that I’ll have the skills and opportunities to.”
-Mankaprr Conteh
Check it out here some pictures Mankaprr took for a photojournalism piece on the March for Black Women, the first four are Mankaprr’s favorites.
You can also see some of Mankaprr’s work for WFDD here and here.
In January 2018, a new paperback version of “Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools” will be released with a new forward by both Mankaprr and Professor Melissa Harris-Perry. You can see Monique W. Morris’s tweet here.