TRAILBLAZER, MAURICE DuBOIS, Anchor, WNBC-TV 4
Award-winning Anchor/Reporter Maurice DuBois has been with NewsChannel4 since April, 1997. He is co-anchor, along with Jane Hanson, of Today in New York, the station's No. 1 rated early morning newscast airing from 5 to 7 a.m. DuBois also regularly substitutes as news anchor and co-host on NBC's Weekend Today show, and MSNBC.

DuBois has hosted a wide range of NewsChannel4 special programs, on topics ranging from kids and violence, to OpSail, to the United Negro College Fund telethon, to the Yankees' Ticker Tape parades, and the West Indian American Day Carnival. He hosted "Four Stories," a magazine on local community heroes in 1997-98; substituted as news anchor on NBC News at Sunrise, and has hosted special programming for Court-TV called "Mind over Media," for students to understand media images. His reporting duties have taken him from the Tri-State area, to the Caribbean Island of Montserrat, to South Africa. And prior to Newschannel-4, he covered everything from political conventions to witnessing a double execution.DuBois came to NewsChannel4 from WFLD-TV in Chicago, where had been an anchor/reporter. Previously he was an anchor/reporter at KCRA-TV in Sacramento, and he began his career in 1987 at KING-TV in Seattle as a desk assistant, before getting his first reporting assignment at the station. The recipient of numerous journalism awards, DuBois has been recognized by the Associated Press, the New York and Chicago Associations of Black Journalists, and won an Emmy for Outstanding Morning News Program for Today in New York. Active in the community, DuBois is on the board of directors for the Northside Center for Childhood Development in Harlem, a member of the Jazz Associates at Lincoln Center, and a sought-after speaker at schools, colleges and businesses. The Long Island native, who earned a B.S. in Journalism from Northwestern University, lives with his wife in New York.

Award-winning Anchor/Reporter Maurice DuBois has been with NewsChannel4 since April, 1997. He is co-anchor, along with Jane Hanson, of Today in New York, the station's No. 1 rated early morning newscast airing from 5 to 7 a.m. DuBois also regularly substitutes as news anchor and co-host on NBC's Weekend Today show, and MSNBC.DuBois has hosted a wide range of NewsChannel4 special programs, on topics ranging from kids and violence, to OpSail, to the United Negro College Fund telethon, to the Yankees' Ticker Tape parades, and the West Indian American Day Carnival. He hosted "Four Stories," a magazine on local community heroes in 1997-98; substituted as news anchor on NBC News at Sunrise, and has hosted special programming for Court-TV called "Mind over Media," for students to understand media images. His reporting duties have taken him from the Tri-State area, to the Caribbean Island of Montserrat, to South Africa. And prior to Newschannel-4, he covered everything from political conventions to witnessing a double execution.

DuBois came to NewsChannel4 from WFLD-TV in Chicago, where had been an anchor/reporter. Previously he was an anchor/reporter at KCRA-TV in Sacramento, and he began his career in 1987 at KING-TV in Seattle as a desk assistant, before getting his first reporting assignment at the station. The recipient of numerous journalism awards, DuBois has been recognized by the Associated Press, the New York and Chicago Associations of Black Journalists, and won an Emmy for Outstanding Morning News Program for Today in New York. Active in the community, DuBois is on the board of directors for the Northside Center for Childhood Development in Harlem, a member of the Jazz Associates at Lincoln Center, and a sought-after speaker at schools, colleges and businesses. The Long Island native, who earned a B.S. in Journalism from Northwestern University, lives with his wife in New York.Award-winning Anchor/Reporter Maurice DuBois has been with NewsChannel4 since April, 1997. He is co-anchor, along with Jane Hanson, of Today in New York, the station's No. 1 rated early morning newscast airing from 5 to 7 a.m. DuBois also regularly substitutes as news anchor and co-host on NBC's Weekend Today show, and MSNBC.

DuBois has hosted a wide range of NewsChannel4 special programs, on topics ranging from kids and violence, to OpSail, to the United Negro College Fund telethon, to the Yankees' Ticker Tape parades, and the West Indian American Day Carnival. He hosted "Four Stories," a magazine on local community heroes in 1997-98; substituted as news anchor on NBC News at Sunrise, and has hosted special programming for Court-TV called "Mind over Media," for students to understand media images. His reporting duties have taken him from the Tri-State area, to the Caribbean Island of Montserrat, to South Africa. And prior to Newschannel-4, he covered everything from political conventions to witnessing a double execution. DuBois came to NewsChannel4 from WFLD-TV in Chicago, where had been an anchor/reporter. Previously he was an anchor/reporter at KCRA-TV in Sacramento, and he began his career in 1987 at KING-TV in Seattle as a desk assistant, before getting his first reporting assignment at the station. The recipient of numerous journalism awards, DuBois has been recognized by the Associated Press, the New York and Chicago Associations of Black Journalists, and won an Emmy for Outstanding Morning News Program for Today in New York. Active in the community, DuBois is on the board of directors for the Northside Center for Childhood Development in Harlem, a member of the Jazz Associates at Lincoln Center, and a sought-after speaker at schools, colleges and businesses. The Long Island native, who earned a B.S. in Journalism from Northwestern University, lives with his wife in New York.

TRAILBLAZER AMY DuBOIS BARNETT, Editor-In-Chief, Honey Magazine
An award-winning writer and experienced editor, AMY DuBOIS BARNETT was named Editor-in-Chief of HONEY magazine in June 2000. A respected expert on pop culture and style, Barnett brings years of journalism experience to her new role, arriving after two years at Essence magazine, where she most recently worked as lifestyle editor following a year as the publication's fashion and beauty features editor. As lifestyle editor, she oversaw several sections (food, home, entertaining, travel and parenting), top-edited fashion features and edited other major features. Prior to her duties at Essence, Barnett was editor-in-chief of Inside New York, a city guidebook for hip, young newcomers, and worked as the founding managing editor of Fashion Almanac, a consumer magazine that offered a behind-the-scenes look at the fashion industry. While there, she was a regular on-air correspondent at E! Television's "The Gossip Show." Barnett began her career in online journalism as a writer for Total New York.com, where she authored a weekly column on New York City's cultural and social happenings, and later joined Fashion Planet.com, one of the hottest style sites on the Internet, as the founding features editor. She soon rose to managing editor.The Hurston/Wright Foundation honored Barnett's work as a fiction writer with an award in 1996. She has published two short stories, and is currently writing a novel. In 1997, she received an ALDO award for fashion journalism. Barnett, who received her B.A. from Brown University and an M.F.A. in creative writing from Columbia University, serves on the editorial board of the Brown Alumni Monthly, and on the board of Lions' Reach, a not-for-profit organization. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, Nathan Grant, and their dog, Finnegan.

TRAILBLAZER DARIUS WALKER, Vice President of News Coverage, CNNfn
As vice president of news coverage for CNNfn, the financial news net-work based in New York, DARIUS WALKER oversees all business and general news resources, staff and editorial for CNNfn, which includes the Business Newsgathering staff that supplies news, updates and breaking Business news to such CNN networks as CNN USA, CNN Headline news, CNN International and CNN Radio. Prior to his current role, he was supervising producer for CNNfn's Atlanta operations and senior producer for CNN's preeminent business news program, "The Moneyline News Hour with Lou Dobbs." From 1996 to 1998, Walker worked a senior national editor and producer for CNN USA based in Atlanta. Before joining CNN, Walker, a seven-time Emmy-award winner with nominations as a producer, editor and manager, worked as managing editor and executive producer for special projects at NBC's flagship station, WNBC in New York. From 1992 to 1994 as managing editor at WAGA-TV, the CBS affiliate in Atlanta, he led the Emmy award-winning coverage of the Atlanta Stadium fire, and served as a member of the Board of Governors of the Atlanta Press Club. From 1988-1992, Walker was assignment editor, field producer and producer for ABC News in New York. Walker, who began his career at the Boston Globe newspaper while studying journalism at Boston's Northeastern University, has received several Associated Press awards for his work as a producer and reporter at radio stations WBZ, WRBB and WBSM in his hometown of Boston. He is the recipient of the prestigious Champion Award for Business reporting from the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, and is an active member of the National Association of Black Journalists, participating in various panels and youth events sponsored by the organization and its New York chapters

.TRAILBLAZER OMAR WASOW,
Executive Director, BlackPlanet.com
Described by the New York Times as "Silicon Alley's Philosopher-Prince" and by Newsweek Magazine as one of the "fifty most influential people to watch in cyberspace", OMAR WASOW, 31, is the Executive Director of BlackPlanet.com at Community Connect, Inc., and the Internet Analyst for WNBC. BlackPlanet.com, launched in September 1999, has grown under Wasow's leadership at an exceptional pace, becoming the leading site for African-Americans and one of the 25 most popular sites on the Internet. For nearly 20 years, beginning with his first experiences programming at age 11, and later going online at 12, Wasow is passionate about the potential for computers to change people's lives, and works to demystify technology issues in his role as Internet Analyst for WNBC. He is well known as tutor to Oprah Winfrey in her first exploration of the Internet in the 12-part series "Oprah Goes Online", and in 1993 founded New York Online, helping companies as diverse as Samsung, Consumer Reports, and the New Yorker execute successful Internet strategies. Omar Wasow was selected to be a fellow in the Rockefeller Foundation's Next Generation Leadership program for his active participation in a number of social issues, in particular school reform. In January 2002, Wasow received approval from the State University of New York Board of Trustees for a Brooklyn-based charter school he has been seeking to open for three years. Wasow lives in Brooklyn.