Jamilah Lemieux (July 22, 1984) is an American writer, cultural critic, and editor. She rose to prominence for her blog, The Beautiful Struggler. She has worked for ''

Ebony Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus ''Diospyros'', which also contains the persimmons. Unlike most woods, ebony is dense enough to sink in water. It is finely textured and has a mirror finish when pol ...

'', Cassius Magazine, and

Interactive One Urban One, Inc. (formerly Radio One) is a Silver Spring, Maryland-based American media conglomerate. Founded in 1980 by Cathy Hughes, the company primarily operates media properties targeting African Americans. It is the largest African-American-o ...

, part of Radio One, Inc. Lemieux currently writes a parenting column for ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

'', and co-hosts an accompanying podcast, ''Mom & Dad Are Fighting''.

Early life

Lemieux was born and raised in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. Her father is David Lemieux, a former member of the

Black Panther Party The Black Panther Party (BPP), originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, was a Marxist-Leninist and black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in October 1966 in Oakland, Califo ...

, who appeared in the 1973 film '' The Spook Who Sat by the Door''. Her mother was active with the

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, often pronounced ) was the principal channel of student commitment in the United States to the civil rights movement during the 1960s. Emerging in 1960 from the student-led sit-ins at segrega ...

. Lemieux received her bachelor's degree from

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity" and accredited by the Middle States Commissi ...

. She is a member of the

Alpha Kappa Alpha Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. () is the first intercollegiate historically African American sorority. The sorority was founded on January 15, 1908, at the historically black Howard University in Washington, D.C., by a group of sixteen stud ...

sorority.

Career

Writing

After graduating from Howard University, she began her writing career through blogging and mainstream media. Her blog, The Beautiful Struggler, primarily centered on the topics of race and romantic relationships. She is a three-time

Black Weblog Awards The Black Weblog Awards was an online awards event which recognizes bloggers of African-American descent for their contributions in blogging, video blogging, and podcasting. The Black Weblog Awards started in 2005 with 11 categories, and grew to ...

winner. In 2011, Lemieux became the news and lifestyle editor for

Ebony.com ''Ebony'' is a monthly magazine that focuses on news, culture, and entertainment. Its target audience is the African Americans, African-American community, and its coverage includes the lifestyles and accomplishments of influential black people, ...

. She was promoted to senior editor in 2014. In late 2015, she became the senior editor for the print magazine. Lemieux's writing has appeared in publications such as Mic, ''

Essence Essence ( la, essentia) is a polysemic term, used in philosophy and theology as a designation for the property or set of properties that make an entity or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it ...

'', ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...

'', ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', and ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''. Her writing generally centers cultural issues from a feminist perspective.

Other work

In 2009, she penned
An Open Letter to Tyler Perry
' for NPR’s

All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...

. She also appears a TV commentator for networks such as

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

, and

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

, and she has been a guest on Comedy Central's '' The Nightly Show'', MTV2's ''

Uncommon Sense "Uncommon Sense" is a 1945 science fiction short story by American writer Hal Clement. In 1996, it was retrospectively awarded the 1946 Hugo Award for Best Short Story. Publication history "Uncommon Sense" was first published in the September 1945 ...

'', Vice's '' Desus & Mero'', as well as Revolt/Power 105.1's ''

The Breakfast Club ''The Breakfast Club'' is a 1985 American teen coming-of-age comedy-drama film written, produced, and directed by John Hughes. It stars Emilio Estevez, Paul Gleason, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, and Ally Sheedy. The film t ...

''. She appeared as a commentator in the ''

Surviving R. Kelly ''Surviving R. Kelly'' is a Lifetime documentary detailing sexual abuse allegations against American singer Robert "R." Kelly. It aired over three nights, from January 3 to January 5, 2019. Filmmaker and music critic Dream Hampton served as exec ...

'' documentary series. In 2016, she became the vice president of news and men's programming for

, part of Radio One, Inc. As a part of her work there she developed Cassius, a digital magazine for millennials of color. Lemieux joined the Cynthia Nixon 2018 gubernatorial campaign as a communications advisor. In 2019, she worked as a consultant for

Elizabeth Warren Elizabeth Ann Warren ( née Herring; born June 22, 1949) is an American politician and former law professor who is the senior United States senator from Massachusetts, serving since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party and regarded as a ...

presidential campaign President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Personal life

Lemieux has one daughter, Naima (b. 2013).

Accolades

* ''

The Root "The Root" is a song by American recording artist D'Angelo. It is the eighth track on his second studio album, ''Voodoo'', which was released on January 25, 2000, by Virgin Records. "The Root" was recorded and produced by D'Angelo at New York's ...

,'' Root 100 (2014) *

Planned Parenthood The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health care in the United States and globally. It is a tax-exempt corporation under Internal Reve ...

, PPFA Media Awards, Excellence in Commentary (2015) *

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

, 100 Women (2016)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lemieux, Jamilah 1984 births African-American journalists African-American women journalists African-American women writers Living people Howard University alumni American columnists People from Chicago Journalists from Illinois Writers from Chicago African-American writers American women columnists BBC 100 Women American feminist writers 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women