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Media executive and culture authority with 20+ years across editorial leadership, digital publishing, television, creator partnerships, and U.S. Army service.

Former

Head of Hip Hop at TMZ, Editor-in-Chief of HipHopDX, Managing Editor of The Smoking Section, and Senior Editor at HipHopWired. Proven record leading large editorial teams, building trusted relationships across music, film, sports, talent, creators, labels, management, and publicists, and translating fast-moving culture into high-impact digital, social, and television content. Army veteran with a leadership foundation shaped by 14 years of service and Operation Iraqi Freedom III.

Head of Hip Hop / On-Air Correspondent / Co-Executive Producer - TMZ HIP HOP - Los Angeles, CA

(2022-03 - 2026-01)

• Ran TMZ's Hip Hop editorial department, directing daily coverage across music, entertainment, sports crossover stories, viral culture, and breaking news.
• Served as a regular on-camera correspondent for TMZ Hip Hop, translating editorial authority into television-ready commentary, debate, analysis, and entertainment storytelling.
• Credited publicly as Co-Executive Producer for TMZ HIP HOP, a FOX-owned station event series and Fox Soul rollout tied to TMZ Studios.
• Created and supported platform-native social content, including TikTok-first concepts, short-form video, rapid-turnaround editorial reactions, and creator-facing cultural coverage.
• Worked directly and indirectly with artists, labels, executives, publicists, athletes, influencers, and creator communities while protecting TMZ-level speed, accuracy, legal awareness, and brand standards.
• Collaborated with editorial, TV production, social, legal, talent, booking, and executive stakeholders in a high-pressure newsroom environment built around accuracy, speed, and cultural instincts.

Editor-in-Chief - HipHopDX - Los Angeles, CA

(2016-09 - 2022-01)

• Led one of the world's most recognized Hip Hop publications through a high-growth, high-pressure era of digital media, streaming culture, social video, and music-industry transformation.
• Managed an editorial organization of 20+ writers and editors, including staff writers, freelancers, news editors, contributors, interviewers, and multimedia collaborators.
• Owned editorial strategy across breaking news, artist interviews, album reviews, long-form features, lists, cultural commentary, video concepts, social angles, and daily publishing operations.
• Served on the publication's leadership team during Warner Music Group's 2020 acquisition of HipHopDX, helping guide editorial continuity, workflow, staff direction, and brand trust through the transition.
• Led the editorial operation during a publicly reported audience period of 3M+ monthly site visitors and 8M+ monthly YouTube views, with HipHopDX positioned as a major multi-platform Hip Hop news and culture brand.
• Represented HipHopDX across the music industry through relationships with artists, managers, labels, executives, publicists, producers, content partners, and creator communities.
• Maintained a credible editorial voice in a volatile media landscape, balancing speed, SEO, social engagement, industry access, cultural knowledge, ethical judgment, and audience trust.

Managing Editor - HipHopDX - Los Angeles, CA

(2016-01 - 2016-09)

• Managed day-to-day newsroom operations before promotion to Editor-in-Chief, overseeing workflow, assignments, editing, publishing schedules, and staff coordination.
• Edited breaking news, features, interviews, reviews, and culture pieces while tightening voice, headline discipline, article structure, and editorial standards.
• Coordinated writers and editors across a fast-moving national Hip Hop news cycle where precision, sourcing, speed, and cultural credibility were critical.

Senior Editor / Writer - HipHopWired

(2013 - 2015)

• Covered music, entertainment, technology, lifestyle, and culture for a national Hip Hop and pop-culture audience.
• Produced quick-turn news, features, interviews, opinion-driven commentary, and evergreen cultural coverage designed for digital discovery and social conversation.
• Strengthened industry relationships across artists, managers, publicists, labels, producers, and entertainment stakeholders while sharpening high-volume editorial execution.

Managing Editor - The Smoking Section

(2007 - 2012)

• Managed an editorial staff of 10+ writers for one of Hip Hop's most respected independent editorial voices during the blog-era/pre-streaming era of music media.
• Directed editorial planning, assignments, copy editing, publishing rhythm, writer development, voice consistency, and daily quality control.
• Produced and edited reviews, interviews, essays, music criticism, cultural commentary, artist discovery coverage, and audience-first Hip Hop writing that helped define the publication's authority.
• Built early digital-publishing leadership experience by balancing staff management, reader engagement, community credibility, editorial taste, and high-volume content production.

Soldier / Noncommissioned Leadership Experience - United States Army

(2001 - 2015)

• Served 14 years in the U.S. Army, including deployment during Operation Iraqi Freedom III.
• Built a leadership foundation rooted in discipline, accountability, mission planning, team coordination, training, crisis response, adaptability, and operational execution under pressure.
• Carried military-honed judgment, resilience, standards, and chain-of-command awareness into later newsroom leadership, television production, and executive media operations.

The Ohio State University