13 Facts About Danyel Smith

Danyel Smith Wilson was born on Danyel Smith; 1965 and is an American magazine editor, journalist, and novelist.

Danyel Smith is author of two novels and a history of African-American women in pop music.

Danyel Smith was born in Oakland, California, and began writing at a young age through keeping journals and creating a newspaper called the Weekly Arrow in the fourth grade.

Danyel Smith started her career in 1989 as a freelance writer, columnist and critic in the San Francisco Bay Area at the San Francisco Bay Guardian and the East Bay Express.

In 1993, Danyel Smith moved to New York to become Rhythm and blues editor for Billboard magazine.

Two years later, Danyel Smith was awarded the National Arts Journalism Program fellowship at Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism.

Danyel Smith left Time Inc in 2001 to pursue a Master of Fine Arts in Fiction at the New School University, then published two novels and taught at the university level.

In 2006, Danyel Smith returned to Vibe as chief content officer of Vibe Media Group, responsible for the digital as well as the paper platforms.

Danyel Smith's cover profile of Keyshia Cole was featured in Da Capo Press's Best Music Writing 2008.

From 2016 to 2019, Danyel Smith was culture editor at ESPN's The Undefeated.

Danyel Smith regularly appears on network and cable television outlets to provide commentary on entertainment and pop culture topics.

Danyel Smith began writing fiction in 1996 and authored her first novel, More Like Wrestling, in 2003.

In 2014, while at Stanford University for a Knight Journalism Fellowship, Danyel Smith launched HRDCVR with her husband, Elliott Wilson.