After our NYABJ events: we mingle, chat and get to know each other.  It was no different following our February panel, MASS MEDIA AND THE BLACK COMMUNITY: FRIENDS, ENEMIES, OR FRENEMIES?  Everyone enjoyed the panel so much, that after it ended, the esteemed panelists couldn’t leave the stage because the audience members kept coming up to them to say hello!

During that period, the Program Committee co-chairs were introduced to Audrey Edwards, one of NYABJ's founders. We were thrilled at the timing -- because we've been wanting to shout out our current and former members who possess what our Bylaws Committee affectionately refers to as “institutional memory”: those who were there in the early days and can share valuable information about our chapter’s history. (This is especially important since NYABJ has just completed its first year as a re-branded organization with many new and younger members.)

Our March 26 mixer will be the first of our events with a "Throwback" moment where we can meet, greet, and appreciate those trailblazers who have contributed to NYABJ's organizational history.

Please RSVP: http://nyabjtrailblazers.eventbrite.com

Our special guests will be:

Robert S. Anthony

ROBERT ANTHONY, past NYABJ parliamentarian

Robert S. Anthony, who served multiple terms as NYABJ’s parliamentarian, is a veteran technology and consumer electronics journalist and a travel writer. He has worked as a reporter for the old Milwaukee Sentinel, as the senior writer for PC Magazine and as a copy editor for the New York Daily News. He now writes freelance features for Black Enterprise, PC World, The New York Daily News, The Network Journal and other print and online publications. His Paper PC Picks hot products board on Pinterest (www.paperpcpicks.com) is now one of the most popular in the world with more than 1.3 million followers. On Twitter he’s @newyorkbob.

Audrey Edwards

AUDREY EDWARDS, founding member of NYABJ and past NABJ regional director

Audrey Edwards is a contributing writer for Essence as well as its former Editor and Executive Editor. She has also held positions of Vice President and Executive Editor at Black Enterprise magazine; Senior Editor at Family Circle and More magazines; reporter and editor at Fairchild Publications; and editor of the Urban Center at Columbia University. Ms. Edwards’ work has been published in Vibe; O, The Oprah Magazine; the New York Times Sunday Magazine; the Columbia Journalism Review; and Essence, More, Redbook, Ladies Home Journal and Glamour magazines, among others. She is the co-author of Children of the Dream: The Psychology of Black Success, published by Doubleday in 1992, as well as four children’s books. She has taught magazine writing and magazine editing at the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University and New York University, respectively.

In 1989, Ms. Edwards received NYABJ’s Excellence Award for Magazine Feature Writing. For the past two decades Ms. Edwards has also divided her freelance journalism career with being a real estate broker. She ran her own company, Plaza Properties, in Brooklyn, New York, for 20 years before joining the white-shoe real estate firm Brown Harris Stevens in 2008 as an Associate Broker. In 2011 she was made a Vice President and Director.

Patrick Riley

PATRICK RILEY, past NYABJ vice president, Broadcast

As an independent producer, personality, and writer for over a decade, Patrick is a multi-media journalist with a concentration on entertainment and pop culture. His clients have included Harpo Productions, OWN, cnn.com, NBC, BET, American Heart Association, The Wendy Williams Show, Anderson Cooper, New York Public Radio/The Greene Space, AT&T, ESPN, Remy Martin, Comcast, and HBO. NYABJ has honored Patrick at its annual Trailblazer Awards ceremony with its “Volunteer of the Year” Award. Patrick is immediate past chair of NABJ’s Arts & Entertainment Task Force, and has served on the Board of Directors for NABJ, as well as the Atlanta Association of Black Journalists.

Lena Sherrod

LENA SHERROD, NYABJ co-founder, past treasurer

Lena Sherrod, former finance and careers editor at Essence magazine (retired), currently serves as executive director/curator of the Shrine of the Masters Jazz Gallery/Home of the Lee Morgan Legacy Exhibit.  A founding member/treasurer of NYABJ, prior to joining Essence, she worked at several magazines and newspapers as a reporter, copy editor, business/consumer writer, editor; served as editor/project coordinator at the National Urban League and editorial director at The People’s Institute for Economics (PIE); and was founder/president of the Smart-One Scholars (SOS) Program, an educational enrichment project that provides financial incentives to students in grades K-college to encourage academic excellence.

Eric V. Tait

ERIC V. TAIT, past NYABJ president; founder/current co-chair of NYABJ’s Media Watch Committee

A veteran broadcast journalist and documentarian whose credits include ABC World News Tonight, Nightline, and 20/20. He is the executive producer/director of the original multiple award-winning “Then I’ll Be Free To Travel Home” video documentary. Among other documentaries Mr. Tait has produced and directed, the following have aired on PBS: Across The River with Hedrick Smith, Fire In Their Eyes, and The Legacy of Maggie's American Dream. He was NYABJ’s 2003 Lifetime Achievement Award in Broadcasting Honoree.