If you’re like me, part of your day involves going to different gossip and blog sites to get the latest on your favorite celebrities. With bloggers such as Perez Hilton making a reported $20 million a year, the gossip blog game can be a very lucrative and successful business. One of my favorite sites, that I visit daily, is theybf.com run by fellow Empress, Natasha Eubanks. I interviewed Natasha to get some insight on what it takes to run such a successful site and how she stands out among her peers making theybf.com one of the top destinations for black celebrity gossip.

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JSM: How did you get started with your site theybf.com?

Natasha: About three years ago, I used to read other peoples blogs and gossip magazines such as In Touch, People and Us Weekly. They weren’t focusing on black celebrities and I was thinking there has to be people who want gossip on the urban culture. So, I emailed different owners of blogs and asked them to start covering more black celebrities other than just Beyonce. I would get no response so I just decided to do it myself.

JSM: What sets you a part from other blogs?

Natasha: I don’t know, lol, I mean I was out before a lot of other blogs, so I’m not doing anything to purposely set myself a part. There were only a couple of blogs out when I started that focused hard on just celebrity gossip. It’s nothing that I purposely do where I say I need to set myself a apart from other people, I’ve been doing this from day one. I’m not hiding anything, this isn’t a job necessarily for me, I don’t work for anybody, I’m just speaking my mind. I think a lot of blogs don’t really speak their minds, they just will post a picture and say one funny line but with me it’s like I’m having a conversation. I put my personality into it, where a lot of blogs don’t.

JSM: I was on your site today and I saw that you posted a review on a movie and there were some people who responded with negative comments. How hard is it for you not to respond to somebody who disagrees with you or pisses you off?

Natasha: It’s really hard, when I first started I thought I was creating a service to people. I wanted to offer something to people that they would like. So now, I’m having difficulty with this change over, now that I’m the enemy. I’m kind of confused about how that switchover even happened. I mean I still feel like I’m just a regular chick off the street, I’m just like you, just like everybody else. People I meet or people close to me are like you can not respond to anybody because they are looking at you differently now, like you’re just not a regular chick anymore, so you cant just keep responding to everyone because that is just going to make it worse. So every now and then if its someone asking me a question or saying something flat out wrong and I happen to read it that day, I’ll answer it. But 98% of the time I can’t respond so I just don’t read all of my comments.

JSM:So what is a typical day for you like? How much time do you spend on your blog?

Natasha: I spend all day on my blog, lol, especially now since I’ve switched to a new blog format. I’ve upped my number of posts a day to about 4 or 5 and it doesn’t sound like a lot of posts because most bloggers post about 15 or 25 stories a day but they are doing one story per post. But the thing is, I do very long posts and I do at least 30 to 40 images in each post. So just think about posting so many images 4 to 5 times a day, that’s a lot of work. So It takes me a long time with this new format, I have to change the images myself; I have to tweak the resolution, tweak the size of the pictures, its very time consuming.

JSM: Do you know of any celebrities that read your blog?

Natasha: Yeah, lol.

JSM: Any names you can give?

Natasha: Honestly, to tell you the truth any celebrity trying to get on the A list, trying to get out there or cares about their image, reads my site and not just my site but all of the gossip sites. They might say they don’t, but they do because their publicists and managers email me daily. People that I know of so far that read it are Mya, Queen Latifah, Kimora Lee Simmons, Damon Dash, Usher and Kanye West. Kanye West put me up as one of his favorite blogs on his site and I was ecstatic because I was like “wow Kanye reads my blog!”

JSM: How did you get your blog out there? There are so many people right now who have blogs or sites that are tying to get noticed. Would you say that it was a certain interview or connection that pushed you to the next level?

Natasha: I think it was concoction of things, like I said, I was one of the first ones that did it, so I had an advantage. If your one of the first, people are always going to come to you as a source of information. I never paid for any advertisements, everything has been strictly word of mouth. I wish I knew how I got all of these readers because I’m always trying to get more and more. I know at the beginning, I was doing a lot of link exchanges which is the most important way of getting traffic. I used to exchange links with anyone that had a gossip site and not just black sites but all types of sites. Radio DJ’s would find out about my site through other sites and start talking about it on their radio shows which would get me more traffic.

JSM: I know a little while ago, Omarosa had a problem with you because of something you posted about her. Do you get that a lot, where a celebrity or publicist writes you and wants you to take something down?

Natasha: Oh yes, people contact me all the time to take stuff down, but I don’t. I don’t work for anybody, so I don’t have to take anything down unless I want to or if its an actual legal reason, so celebrities can get mad all they want because at the end of they day, I’m just posting my own opinion. Every now and then if something is really personal or involving a kid and I see that it is more detrimental than it is good then I might take it down, but that very rarely happens. And if a celebrity does get mad at something then they don’t understand the celebrity game. If you want to be on the A list, you better beg bloggers to talk about you.

JSM: So what is the future of YBF? Next steps?

Natasha: I have my business incorporated, Young Black & Fabulous LLC and I am expanding into several different things but I’ll just let the world see it when it comes out rather than talk about it in detail. I am going to have some spin off sites, a YBF shop where people can buy YBF gear, a radio show. I’m in talks to do a lot of stuff so look out for it all.

 

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Check out more articles like this on www.empressmag.com and www.empress-socialclub.com

 

Chaz Kyser is a journalism instructor/newspaper advisor at Langston University. She is also the author of Embracing the Real World: The Black Woman’s Guide to Life After College. This career guide was created for Black women making the transition from college to the professional workforce, and has been nationally praised, most recently by Tyra Banks. She lectures throughout the country on topics relevant to college students and recent graduates of all ethnicities. Empress had the opportunity to interview Chaz, check out what she had to say about life, careers and doing what you love.

Tell me about yourself? Where did you grow up? Who is Chaz Kyser?

I grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, but was born in San Diego, Calif. I have attached my bio for your review for the “tell me about yourself part.”

How did you get to become Managing Editor at age 21?

I was able to start managing a paper at such a young age because I consciously put myself in a position to do so. I knew that I wanted to go into journalism/ publishing as early as high school. At 16, my senior year, I started out as an intern for the company that owned the paper I would one day manage so that I could learn about all aspects of the newspaper business, which I was able to do because I worked for a small, black-owned newspaper in which the owners treated my like a god-daughter and really wanted to help me succeed.

I busted my butt while working for them, always doing more than what I was expected and I showed a great deal of enthusiasm. Because of this, when I graduated from college in May 2000, they felt that even though I was young, I would be capable of managing one of their papers, which was in Houston.

Did you always want to become a writer?

Well, the first job I ever said I wanted was as a cashier at a store called Pic &Save because they had so many cool items and the cashiers were friendly. That was when I was five. Luckily, my vision expanded and I set my sights a little higher! I think I knew that I wanted a career that revolved around writing/publishing when I was in high school. I ended up being the school’s newspaper editor and loved it. The funny thing is that I prefer editing other’s work to writing because I love reading and helping to polish people’s work. This is one of the reasons I enjoy working as a college journalism instructor.

What motivates you? How do you stay focused?

The knowledge that I only have one life motivates me. I want to have very few regrets in my old age and I think it is very important for me to be as ambitious and successful as I possibly can.

I am a naturally focused person who can have an idea in one hour and a plan laid out to make that idea into a reality the next. But sometimes I do get distracted by the everyday nonsense in life, and when that happens I have people like my father to help keep me focused on the bigger picture.

What are some of your future projects and endeavors?

I plan on pursuing my Phd in journalism so I will be even more marketable as far as academia and me wanting to be a professor is concerned. Teaching gives me a lot of freedom to do other things I enjoy, such as travel and write/edit books. My next book project will probably be an anthology for college students of all ethnicities. It will feature essays by notable and relatively unknown successful people about how to navigate one’s lives after college,

How did Tyra banks pick you as an honoree for Black History Month spotlight?

Her producers heard about me and my book through word of mouth. I was so thrilled to be chosen by Tyra Banks as one of four Black women making Black history. There are so many other talented, ambitious Black women in America and for her to honor me in the way she did was such an honor and a blessing.

What is the most important thing a person graduating college should know?

Don’t be afraid to take risks, especially if you are unmarried and don’t have children. Now is not the time to play it safe. You don’t want to look back on your life when you are elderly and regret not doing the things you felt would really enrich your life and make you happy.

What does the word Empress mean to you?

I picture a person who sees herself as an Empress as one who feels totally control of her life and future. A woman who is ambitious, industrious, and has a certain good energy/aura about her. Also, an Empress would command respect, be it through her mere presence in a room or the positive, powerful, proactive words that emanate from her mouth.

Make sure to check out on www.embracingtherealworld.com where you can learn more about Chaz and purchase her book Embracing the Real World: The Black Woman’s Guide to Life After College.

Do you have a question for Chaz Kyser? Email her at info@embracingtherealworld.com.

DEJA VU radio personality for POWER 105 in NYC, community leader and all around down to earth person. Her climb to success wasn’t an easy one, it took motivation and persistence. Now she has made it and ready to give our readers a chance to see what a radio dj really goes through.


Empress: How did you get started in radio?


Deja: I got started in radio a long time ago when I was just a kid. I have always been talking and always knew that I wanted to be a radio broadcaster in some kind of way. The actual beginning started when I interned out of a small mom and pop black owned station, it was jazz and adult music. I was doing the show and I was a teenager trying to sound all grown. Interning was the way I got my foot in the door. I interned for a year and a half WITHOUT PAY, so for all those people trying to get paid, fall back and just do the job, if you really love it.

I loved radio that much that I would do it for free. Of course now I’ve become accustomed to a different way of life (lol).

Empress: What is the best thing about your job?

Deja: Being able to keep in touch with the community because we reach out and touch so many people. Folks don’t realize how powerful the microphone is. You have so much power, people listen to you. Some of my listeners have quoted back things I’ve said that I don’t even recall saying. That is the cool thing about it because you have the opportunity to say something that might have an effect on someone, a positive effect. Someone could be having a terrible day and you say something, make them laugh, even encourage them. So that is the fun part about it.

Empress: Did you face a lot of obstacles in the radio industry?

Deja: When I first came to New York City, yes. I am from the south and I have a little bit of a “twang” because I can sound like Whitney Gilbert if you want me to “Dwayneeeeeeeeee” (lol). So people would be like “Oh my gosh! Where are you from”, but mostly it was the people I worked with and not just here, but in the industry period.

“Oh Deja you’re from the south, girl you’re not New York enough…blah blah”. But thank god 5 ½ years later I’m still here. I just signed a new contract, I’m still here and they’re still there running their mouths. So the things that I have learned is to be true to myself and to stay focused on my spiritual side because that’s what got me through tough situations when I first got here.

I used to cry like almost every night, regretting my decision to leave my cushy Program Director’s job in Virginia to come up here. But I love the fact that I am here now, that I can say at least it’s on my resume, even if they fired me tomorrow, of course they would have to pay me (lol). I can say “look I’ve been here 5 ½ years, you guys talk all this smack, all this stuff when I first got here but it’s on my resume and you’re still trying to get in the door”

Empress: Who were your inspirations?

Deja: There weren’t that many people in radio that inspired me. I thought I was going to be a TV news broadcaster so I used to like Connie Chung, Barbara Walters and any rare black face that I could see because back when I was younger there weren’t as many black and brown faces on television. So those kinds of people inspired me from afar.

My parents have always pushed me to do what I wanted to do. They always encouraged me. So they were inspirations as well.

Empress:What is one thing your audience doesn’t know about you?

Deja: I don’t know, I’m so open (lol) about everything. My friends are like “don’t tell them about so and so”. My grandma is even like “you better not talk about this on the radio” when we speak. I can’t think of anything right now, sorry.

Empress: If you weren’t doing this what would you be doing?

Deja: I would be running a community center. My long term dream is to open my own center and have a small radio station inside for teenagers.

Empress: What advice would you give someone trying to start out in the business?

Deja: In the radio industry now it is very, very different from when I first came into the game. It is very aggressive and competitive, so you have to be on your game. For someone trying to get in, make sure you are here for the right reasons, not just to be a celebrity or a superstar on the air. There are many other things behind the mic that people don’t even know about as far as job opportunities. So people just see the on air DJ part but they don’t realize there is so much more to it and politics behind it. So just be prepared for that and develop a tough skin.

Empress: What are your next steps?

Deja:My next step will be to write my own novel, finally break into television and make my multi-millions. Don’t ask me how yet, I haven’t thought that far (slight giggle)

Empress: But the thought is all that counts

Deja:: Exactly

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