Danielle Belton (born c.1977) is an American journalist who is the editor-in-chief of ''

HuffPost ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

''. She worked with local and national publications, as well as developing a television series for BET. After joining ''The Root'' in 2015, she became its youngest managing editor and its first editor-in-chief. In 2021 she was selected as editor of HuffPost.

Early life and education

Belton grew up in Black Jack and

Florissant, Missouri Florissant () is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri, within Greater St. Louis. It is a middle class, second-ring northern suburb of St. Louis. Based on the 2020 United States census, the city had a total population of 52,533, making it the 12 ...

. After graduating from

Hazelwood Central High School Hazelwood Central High School is located at 15875 New Halls Ferry Road in unincorporated area, unincorporated St. Louis County, Missouri, St. Louis County, Missouri, adjacent to the current northeast boundary of Florissant, Missouri, Florissant. T ...

, she attended

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) is a public university in Edwardsville, Illinois. SIUE was established in 1957 as an extension of Southern Illinois University Carbondale.Butler 1976, p. 18 It is the younger of the two major inst ...

, where she received a

Bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in English and Journalism.

Career

She started her journalism career with ''

The Bakersfield Californian ''The Bakersfield Californian'' is a daily newspaper serving Bakersfield, California and surrounding Kern County in the state's San Joaquin Valley. History ''The Bakersfield Californian'' is the direct descendant of Kern County's first newspap ...

'', a local newspaper in

Bakersfield Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. In 2007 she started the 'Black Snob', an award-winning

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

. In 2011 she worked on developing a television show for

Black Entertainment Television Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los ...

(BET) called ''Don't Sleep'', hosted by

T. J. Holmes Loutelious "T. J." Holmes, Jr. (born August 19, 1977) is an American journalist and national television personality. Holmes first gained national prominence as an anchor and correspondent for CNN. He spent five years at the network anchoring CN ...

; she became its head writer. Although the show was cancelled after 8 months, it was nominated for an

NAACP Image Award The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. Similar to ...

in 2013. In 2015 Belton joined ''The Root'', where she was appointed as managing editor in 2016. She was appointed as its first editor-in-chief.

References

Living people American newspaper editors American women journalists Southern Illinois University Edwardsville alumni Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women {{US-journalist-20thC-stub