GIRLWRITERSRULE

LINDA DAY: Celebrity Entertainment/Music Journalist Linda Day reflects on her position as a writer. “I like to think of myself as the ethnic Barbara Walters of the music industry.” she laughs. “I just believe in clear, concise journalism, accuracy and a well-researched product. I’m not a paparazzi writer and at this stage of my career, I don’t feel I have to resort to negative means to get a story.” With actors like Phylicia Rashad, Sanaa Lathan, Chris Tucker and Academy Award winners Denzel Washington and Jamie Foxx and artists like Mary J. Blige, Dallas Austin, Common and Wyclef Jean in her portfolio, Linda Day has a solid body of work to her credit “I grew up listening to artists like Outkast, Common, WuTang and its an incredible feeling to be able to tell artists like that how they impacted my life and helped facilitate my imagination so I could achieve my professional goals. Even though I’ve “worked” in the business for 12 strong years, I’ve been living a dream.” The daughter of a musician and fine artist, she studied English literature, communications and Psychology which she feels has helped her learn how to pull the best out of the people she interviews. “Literature, particularly Shakespeare, has taught me how to be passionate and honest about how I feel. Studying psychology taught me how to see things from other perspectives and Corporate Communications sharpened my business sense. But really, all of that doesn’t mean anything. I’m just a person who is interested in people and everyone has a story. You can find it in anyone if you just listen.” Many have said they feel as if they are living inside of the stories Day writes. Her secret: “I see life in pictures, scenes and colors and I try to recreate what I feel when I’m invited into someone’s storybook of life.” She laughs often. “All of this is really not that difficult. Gifts are such that they overpower you. They dominate your senses and pull you in their direction before you even have a chance to protest.” Unleashed, PEACE, Rolling Out, XXL, Upscale and a slew of other pubs have all carried her work but to date, her proudest accomplishment was the development of Grip Magazine, a leader for music in the south. “I’ve done so much for everyone else but Grip was my lovechild.” She smiles and remembers. “It was an explosion of my creativity; the vision, photography, being able to work with some of music’s most prolific writers and artists and overall just watching the brand grow, that was the highlight of my career.” Linda Day currently sits on the voting committee for the BET Awards and BET Hip Hop awards and is working on a music journal.