Gene Demby

Demby grew up in South Philadelphia,{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2015/05/13/406243272/im-from-philly-30-years-later-im-still-trying-to-make-sense-of-the-move-bombing|title=I'm from Philly and 40 years later I'm still trying to make sense of the MOVE bombing}} and attended Hofstra University.{{cite news|url=http://rollingout.com/2016/09/05/gene-demby-gives-black-writers-voice-postbourgie/|title=Gene Demby gives Black writers a voice with 'PostBourgie,' and more|last1=Young|first1=Yolanda|date=September 6, 2016|work=Rolling Out|access-date=September 30, 2016}}

Prior to joining NPR, Demby worked for The New York Times and then as managing editor for Huffington Post's BlackVoices vertical.{{cite news|url=http://observer.com/2011/06/huffington-post-turns-up-the-volume-at-blackvoices/|title=Huffington Post Turns Up the Volume At BlackVoices|last1=Wilson|first1=Benét J.|date=June 29, 2011|work=All Digitocracy|access-date=August 19, 2016}}

{{Main|Code Switch}}

Demby debuted the NPR project Code Switch on April 7, 2013 with an introductory essay that met with immediate acclaim; writing at Complex, Jason Parham said that if the essay "'How Code-Switching Explains The World' is any indication of the content to come, we couldn't be more excited."{{Cite news|url=http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/04/npr-launches-new-blog-covering-race-culture-and-ethnicity|title=NPR Launches New Blog Covering "Race, Culture and Ethnicity"|last=Parham|first=Jason|date=April 8, 2013|work=Complex|access-date=August 4, 2016}}

In 2016, Demby and cohost Shereen Marisol Meraji debuted what Harvard's Neiman Lab called "the long-awaited podcast" from Code Switch.{{cite web|url=http://www.niemanlab.org/2016/06/what-does-the-intersection-of-race-and-culture-sound-like-nprs-code-switch-is-looking-for-the-right-mix/|title=What does the intersection of race and culture sound like? NPR's Code Switch is looking for the right mix|last1=Wang|first1=Shan|date=June 2, 2016|website=NeimanLab|access-date=November 30, 2017}}

{{Main|PostBourgie}}

Demby began blogging in 2004. Speaking to ColorLines in 2012, Demby said he'd been motivated by frustration with media conversations about race, mentioning in particular an occasion a CNN reporter approached him on a basketball court to ask for comment on Bill Cosby's Pound Cake speech at the 2004 NAACP Image Awards. Demby recalled, "I pushed back on him pretty hard...There are people who think black people's condition in the world would be better if we just looked better. 'Pull up your pants.' It seemed so petty that we were having these conversations." In search of an alternative, in 2007 Demby founded a collective blog on race, culture, politics and media called PostBourgie, inviting friends to collaborate who shared his desire "to have conversations that assumed that black people were human beings who were complicated and imperfect, a space that wasn't super didactic."{{cite news|url=https://www.colorlines.com/articles/sepia-mutinys-closure-reminder-blogging-while-brown-aint-easy|title=Sepia Mutiny's Closure Is a Reminder: Blogging While Brown Ain't Easy|last1=King|first1=Jamilah|date=April 12, 2012|work=ColorLines|access-date=August 19, 2016}}

Speaking to New York Magazine, Jamil Smith cited PostBourgie as one of the blogs that "really set the bar for...spaces that were made available to [African-Americans and other people of color]. Even if you were working for traditional media, you didn’t have the opportunity to offer your perspective, to tell the unvarnished version of the truth that you see every day...it really hearkens back to the tradition of the black press."{{Cite news|url=http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/07/jamil-smith-problem-with-media.html|title=MTV News' Jamil Smith on What's Wrong (and Right) With the Media|last=Tabor|first=Nick|date=July 24, 2016|work=New York Magazine|access-date=July 30, 2016}} In The Washington Post, Alyssa Rosenberg praised PostBourgie's accomplishments in "building a ladder for all its participants. The blog gave the people who wrote there a chance to workshop their voices and refine their ideas for a smart audience, even when they didn’t have paying assignments for an idea. When one PostBourgie writer got a new job, he or she encouraged others to freelance for that new outlet and to apply for fellowships and jobs there."{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/act-four/wp/2015/02/03/postbourgie-andrew-sullivan-and-why-blogging-still-matters/|title=PostBourgie, Andrew Sullivan and why blogging still matters|last=Rosenberg|first=Alyssa|date=February 3, 2015|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=July 30, 2016}} PostBourgie alums have included Shani O. Hilton, now executive editor of news for BuzzFeed, and BuzzFeed writers Joel Anderson and Tracy Clayton.

Demby hosts an accompanying podcast also called PostBourgie.

In 2009, Demby's PostBourgie won a Black Weblog Award for Best News/Politics Site.{{cite web|title=Black Weblog Awards - Past Winners|url=http://www.blackweblogawards.com/past-winners/|website=www.blackweblogawards.com|access-date=2016-06-28|archive-date=2013-03-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130306004918/http://www.blackweblogawards.com/past-winners/|url-status=dead}}

In 2013 and again in 2014, Demby was named to The Root 100's list of the 100 most important black influencers.{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2013/09/26/226478848/the-root-100-a-whos-who-of-black-america|title=The Root 100: A Who's Who Of Black America|date=September 26, 2013|website=NPR}}{{cite web|url=http://protectmypublicmedia.org/2014/09/26/icymi-weeks-public-media-highlights/|title=#ICYMI: This Week's Public Media Highlights|date=September 26, 2014|website=Protect My Public Media}}

In 2014, Demby and the Code Switch team won the Online News Association's award for Best Online Commentary.{{cite web|url=http://journalists.org/awards/2014-awards/|title=2014 Awards|date=August 25, 2014|website=Online News Association}}

Demby is married to fellow journalist Kainaz Amaria, a Zoroastrian American{{cite web|author=arZan |url=https://parsikhabar.net/film/kainaz-amaria-in-conversation-being-zoroastrian/6433/ |title=Kainaz Amaria in Conversation: Being Zoroastrian |publisher=Parsi Khabar |date=2013-05-31 |accessdate=2021-12-30}} who is currently a visuals editor for Vox Media.{{cite web |url=https://news.psu.edu/story/633574/2020/09/29/arts-and-entertainment/accomplished-journalists-set-presentations-part |title=Accomplished journalists set for presentations as part of ongoing Speakers Forum |date=September 29, 2020 |website=Pennsylvania State University}}{{cite web|url=https://www.vox.com/authors/kainaz-amaria |title=Kainaz Amaria Profile and Activity |publisher=Vox |date= 6 May 2021|accessdate=2021-12-30}} The couple live in Washington.

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Category:Living people

Category:African-American journalists

Category:American male journalists

Category:African-American writers

Category:American podcasters

Category:NPR personalities

Category:Hofstra University alumni

Category:The Lawrence Herbert School of Communication alumni

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:21st-century African-American people