One of the hottest and most prolific wordsmiths on the lifestyle, travel and entertainment journalism scene, Danielle Pointdujour writes for some of print and digital media’s biggest outlets. While most future journalists had their start in the high school newspaper, Pointdujour’s abilities as a scribe started to get notice while she was still in elementary school. She wrote her very first book when she was a fourth grader and launched it to her classmates on her birthday.

A bookworm growing up, Pointdujour was taken by many novels, but in particular Toni Morrison’s classic The Bluest Eye. She can still recall how she was moved by the classic novel. She credits The Bluest Eye for being one of the books that helped her carve her own writing style and develop an eye for good writing. “Every page of that book made me feel something and helped me connect with the characters,” she observes. “I could see every scene in my mind. Even today when read books, if I can’t feel something or visualize the moment, I can’t finish it. It needs to grab me. When I’m not writing on a specific topic, I like to write in the same format. I want you to feel my words and relate.”

Relate is definitely something readers tend to do when Pointdujour writes. She’s known for her introspective, analysis-filled articles on outlets like Egypt Said So, Clutch, Ebony and Jet. One of the most highly debated articles of the journalist’s career, was an article she wrote for Clutch entitled “Pots, Pans, and Non-Cooking Women”. The article went in on girls of this generation who aren’t active in the kitchen. With that article, Pointdujour didn’t assume the patriarchal society-minded tone of other articles on the subject. She didn’t castigate or ridicule young women for not being “wifey material”, but rather emphasized that cooking is a much-needed skill for survival.

Pointdujour has also written a series of “As Told To” confessionals for Ebony, in which interview subjects trusted her to tell their personal stories about everything from post-quarterlife virginity to paternity and marital secrets. The series is one of the most read and looked-forward=to columns for the publication’s digital arm, drawing plenty of commentary and discussion.

Time after time, Pointdujour shows her ability for knowing what will resonate with readers. Here’s the Howard University alumni, Brooklyn-born daughter of a Guyanese mom and Haitian father, discussing her journey as a scribe…

Did journalism chase you until you had no choice but to embrace it? Or was the attraction always mutual?

Nope, the attraction was always mutual. I love to write and I always seek opportunities to do so. From being on the year book staff, to writing for the school paper…I’m always trying to put pen to paper.

Do you think that in years to come the line between advertising and editorial will become grayer and grayer until finally it’s nonexistent ?
I don’t think the line between advertising and editorial will ever be non-existent, but like most things, it will evolve. The world of journalism isn’t the same as it was 20 years ago, or even 5 for that matter. It changes as the world changes. The line may be gray now, but that’s just because of change. Will the two areas have to find a way to co-exist, especially in this tech-heavy, instant information world we live in? Yes. But there will always be a line between the two—in my opinion.

As the American-born child of two Caribbean parents, were you told that journalism and being a writer wouldn’t be practical as careers? If so, how did you manage to convince your parents that you would be a success at it?

Fortunately no! Well, at least not by my parents. My father and mother always encouraged me to be whatever I wanted to be…as long as it didn’t land me in jail lol. They both encouraged my writing, as a matter of fact, my father probably has everything I’ve ever written, even the digital pieces. My grandparents, however, could care less about my writing. They enjoy it, they like to read it, but my grandmother on my Haitian side would’ve preferred me to be a nurse. And married…with kids. [Laughter]

As crazy as it sounds for a child from a Caribbean family to say, I’ve never really cared about or followed anything my family has wanted for my life. I usually tell them what I’m going to do, not ask for advice or permission. I live for me and do what feels right for me. My father never micro-managed my decisions; he raised me to be independent and to trust my own gut from a very early age. Unless it was something like behaving in school, doing my chores, had to do with life or death or combing my hair—I hated combing my hair—I was free to make my own choices. If I didn’t want to do it, I didn’t, and if I did…I did. Because I was taught to trust my gut, I’ve never made a choice that took me down a wrong path or shamed my family. If I fell, I knew how to get up before they ever noticed I was down. I may not be a millionaire doing the writing thing, but I love it and my family just supports and rolls with it. [Laughter]

Have you been to Haiti?

No, and my grandmother is somewhere praying for the correction of that tragedy in my life as we speak. The side-eye I get every time I go to Abu Dhabi or Thailand, but not Haiti, is unreal. She has a huge home in Haiti that she built piece by piece since I was a little girl and I’ve never been there. Actually, out of 9 grandchildren only one has been, but we’re working on taking a family trip there soon. I’ve seen so many beautiful pictures of Haiti; it’s definitely on my list!

That’s definitely something to look forward to….Do you think that the media has the power it had say earlier this century, or even in the last century?

Media definitely still holds a lot of power! Especially since today media outlets are literally at the fingertips of the world. It has the power to broadcast breaking news at lightning speed and because of all the technology we have access to these days, I feel it is in the middle of an amazing transformation. The downside to the power and transformation however, is that media outlets are being less careful. The race to be the first to break on outlets like Twitter, has caused false info to be released and journalistic integrity to be compromised. Everyone with a keyboard thinks they are media these days. Also. because of things like reality television, false images are portrayed all over the globe and it’s hard to decipher what people and countries are really like. It’s a tough balance.

You write for a great many publications. You’re very versatile. One minute, a Danielle Pointdujour article on relationships appears on Vibe Vixen, and the next minute you’re writing about travel for TravelNoire, or about health and fitness for Frugivore or women’s issues for Clutch. How did you get to be such an all-around reporter and writer?

I think you have to be when you’re a writer. You can most certainly have a favorite subject, for example mine is travel, but you have to be flexible enough to go get and write the story no matter the topic. I’ve written about nude pantyhose for Coco + Crème – I can’t tell you the last time I wore pantyhose [Laughter] I’ve written about makeup – never worn it. But at the end of the day, whatever I’m writing isn’t about me and my preferences, it’s about the audience. So long as I believe in what I’m writing and who I’m writing it for, I can write pretty much anything.

What journalistic piece do you feel is your crown and glory in terms of what you had to put into it, and the satisfaction that it gave you, as a professional and woman of the pen?

Wow, that’s a tough one. My crown and glory piece would have to be a little article I wrote at Howard for our newspaper The Hilltop. I did an interview with publicist Marvet Britto. She was my idol! I had never interviewed anyone important before and I reached out to her honestly not expecting to hear back. She contacted me for the interview and I remember being so nervous! When the article was printed I sent her a copy, she loved it so much she offered me an internship with her company The Britto Agency. I was beyond excited; it felt like validation that I was on the right path because someone I admired respected my work. I remember while interning for her I wrote a bio for a client she had named Ralph Jacob, it was the first celebrity bio she let me write. Ralph called Marvet to tell her how much he loved it and she was so proud that she gave me $100 cash straight from her wallet. Best money I ever earned.

Wow…Do you think a college degree is still a big requirement for those who want to get into publishing and journalism?

Definitely. Unfortunately these days everyone and anyone with a keyboard and the ability to write a decent sentence thinks they are a writer and journalist. The reality is writing is a skill. You can’t just wake up one day and decide that you are now an ace in the field. You need to learn basic writing styles, editing, research and fact-checking skills, reporting, etc, and you need to have your most prized piece broken down to the marrow and drowned in a sea of red pen before you are even close to being a writer and journalist. And even then you’re not done honing your craft. Even the best people in the field are still learning, growing and perfecting their craft, because that’s what it is, a craft.

What’s next for you in your career? Or can I guess…a novel, becoming an editor, going for another degree…

Honestly, I have no idea! Currently I am the Content Editor for TravelNoire.com and a freelance writer for Ebony.com and JETMag.com. A few people have told me I should write a book based on experiences I’ve had during my travels, but I haven’t sat still long enough to even figure out where to begin. I’m really big on luxury travel and enjoy reviewing the amazing places I’m blessed to visit, so I’m hoping I can partner with tourism boards, hotels, resorts and restaurants in various countries very soon. Maybe the Haitian Tourism Board will give me a call!

Click Here to Read Danielle Pointdujour’s Work | Follow Danielle Pointdujour On Twitter |

Haiti-based radio host and multimedia journalist Carel Pedre is altering the media landscape in Haiti.

Chokarella, Pedre’s flagship property, has grown into one of Haiti’s most recognized and most-esteemed entertainment platforms. The Chokarella brand launched as a morning radio show, then grew into a phenomenon among the Haitian-American Diaspora. Some of it had to do with Pedre’s timing.

Pedre, who has clarified in interviews that Chokarella existed prior to the 2010 earthquake, created a show that first resonated with Haitians in Haiti. In particular, with Haitian-Americans in the United States, and others living abroad—who newly shook by the earthquake in Haiti in the early 2010s—were looking for ways to establish, reconnect and rekindle their ties to Haiti. And here was Pedre with a morning show that appealed to their Haitian-American sensibilities while also stroking the newly-found love or reignited love for all things Haiti, and his tech-loving ways equally appealed to them. And here was Pedre who was their audio window to Haiti and everything that was happening in it.

Pedre has connected with audiences living outside of Haiti in a way that many, who also have an online presence, didn’t. Pedre also used his tech-savvy to launch an app for the show that made his brand even more distinct from his counterparts. And he kept on coming up with content that could engage his base listeners in Haiti, while also catching the interest of the Anglophone-oriented Haitian-American community.

And then there’s the matter of personal branding. His smiling face is everywhere. It’s almost as memorable as his vision for Haiti’s media. But then again, as any branding evangelist will tell you, a brand with a face will always be championed more than a simple logo. Pedre knows that. He’s not one to sit behind the microphone, close up his equipment when his interviews conclude, and call it a day. One minute he’s in Seoul, Korea at a journalism development conference, the next he’s conducting a “takeover” in Miami during Haitian Flag Week, and the next he’s in Haiti directing his crew, and covering some event in Petionville or Cap Haitien. Next thing you know, he’s in Montreal, Canada for the Haitian culture extravaganza show Haiti en Folie.

Pedre won’t rest. A tireless social media strategist, he can be seen posting on his social media platforms through the wee hours of the morning. The multimedia czar was honored this past October by the Creole Image Honors, a cultural organization, that is fittingly enough based in New York, one of the undisputed cocoons of the Haitian Diaspora. That same city honored him in June, this time by Fleur de Vie, a non-profit launched by designer Dayane Damier.

This concludes PART I of the article about multimedia journalist Carel Pedre. CLICK HERE to view videos on the Chokarella platform.

This has been another episode of STRAIGHT OUTTA HAITI in which your fave chick Kreyolicious discusses talents and people emerging out of Haiti, and assorted things. Today’s episode centered on multimedia journalist Carel Pedre. But, there are others…ahem…

CLICK HERE to check out other episodes!

Whether he has a CNN news camera aimed at him, or whether he’s surveying the grounds prior to an air show, Vladimir Duthiers is the man…the news man. He’s everywhere it seems. After a stint at CNN, he moved on to CBS News where he continues build up his stellar resume with prestigious assignments. He’s a success for sure, an overnight success some might say! Not! Let’s examine his journey and determine the 5 Success Principles we can learn from his career.

1. No matter how far you are in your journey, you can always start on a new one.
Today, Vladimir Duthiers may be known as a journalist, but did you know that he spent most of his post-undergrad years in the world of finance? Eighteen years in a field, and turning your back on it! Moreover, his initial degree wasn’t even in finance. He actually majored in Political Science. See a pattern here? You might prepare for one road, and get set on another one! The thing is to be honest with oneself.

2. Some so-called down-grades are actually part of the upgrade process.
Vladimir went from an entry-level position at a financial firm to being the managing director of capital firm, to Vice President of a major asset company in Luxembourg. In the mid-2000s, he decided that he wanted to try his hands at the broadcasting business. As a financial industry transplant, could he find a place in this news sector.

Vladimir Duthiers was not opposed to getting a position as a production assistant. From Vice President to production assistant? What? Well, yes. Duthiers worked for CNN’s Christine Amanpour in that role, and in less than six months his diligence and hard work was recognized and he moved on to the role of Associate Producer for Anderson Cooper 360. He ended up covering one of the biggest news stories of the early 2010s…the earthquake aftermath in Haiti. Two years later, Vladimir Duthiers was courted and hired by CNN. How’s that for upgrade, baby!

3. Get some skills that will help you regardless of your industry or field.
Goodness knows that having bilingual parents doesn’t always mean that you’re going to be bilingual! As the New York-born son of Haitian parents, Vladu learned Haitian Creole and French. As an adult, he studied Japanese and Chinese, and he’s managed to gain intermediate fluency in both languages. With both Japan and China being such a major part of the global economic scene, these language skills will certainly come to be useful for the man whose first love was finance. Moreover, in the world of broadcast journalism, knowing languages other than English will never stop being handy.

When CBS needed someone to be a correspondent in Nigeria, Mali, and Algeria guess who they called on? Japanese and Chinese aren’t the national languages in Nigeria (or any of those other places), but because of Vladimir Duthiers’ international aura, CBS brass wanted him.

4. Never stop learning.
Like you didn’t know that one! But it bears repeating! To Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism he went. In spite of his busy schedule, he managed to get his Master’s of Science in Broadcast. Whether he has remaining journeys in other fields or wants to continue in the world of journalism, he has his graduate degree in tow!

5. Stay ready, and be ready.
Overall, Vladimir Duthiers is an example of what can happen to your life and your career if you continuously prepare for the life and career that you want. Sometimes, this meant getting supplemental education, displaying willingness to start over in a new field, or acquiring a skills that took him out of his comfortable surroundings. The lesson here is to remain polished, as an opportunity may come sooner than you think!

This is your favorite chick Kreyolicious signing off. CLICK HERE to read other installments in this series brought to you by your fave chick Kreyolicious.

CLICK HERE TO FOLLOW VLADIMIR DUTHIERS ON TWITTER |

It was only a matter of time before Jennifer Brea did a documentary. An experienced journalist, Brea has covered hard-hitting stories and issues ranging from development and aid in Tanzania, to Chinese business involvement in China. She has written articles for such prestigious publications as The American, and is very much accustomed to going deeper than the surface issues.

With her documentary-in-progress Canary in a Coal Mine, she is dipping into more personal waters. The doc explores Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. The TED fellow discussed her background and work with Kreyolicious.com.

Tell us about more about yourself.

I was born in New York and grew up in Florida. My grandparents on my father’s side emigrated from Haiti in the 1960s. My grandmother was half Chinese. While on the one hand Haiti is a very distant and abstract place for me–I speak French because I learned it in school and only know a few words of Kreyol–the years I spent as a child playing in their house and all the stories they shared had a profound effect. They are the reason I spent my early twenties running around China and Africa.

Your film project Canary in a Coal Mine is about Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.

Three years ago, I came down with the worst flu of my life. Two years ago, I forgot how to write my own name. Then, I became more ill than I ever knew was possible. It is not an exaggeration to say I thought I was dying. My neurologist told me mine were the symptoms of conversion disorder, caused by some stress or repressed trauma I might not even be able to recall. Every pain, every symptom–even the severe sinus infection for which I took antibiotics and recovered–were physical manifestations of some vague, psychic disturbance.

I was eventually diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, or more accurately, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME).

Numerous studies over the last thirty years have documented the many biochemical, immunological, neurological, and epigenetic abnormalities that are characteristic of this disease. Patients have altered microbiomes and pronounced mitochondrial dysfunction. Unfortunately, many of these tests are either not standard or aren’t commercially available. There have also been documented outbreaks involving dozens or even hundreds of people in a single town, school or hospital, suggesting that there is an infectious trigger.

Despite decades of science, many patients, for the first several months and years of illness, meet with doctors who do not believe they are really ill. This is because the disease is outside of their training; it is simply not taught in medical schools. Worse yet, in some corners, it still being taught as a psychological disorder. Patients are told to go about their lives, exercise, or otherwise maintain a level of activity that can lead to permanent disability. In some countries, there have even been cases of forced psychiatric institutionalization.

The film follows the lives of several people living with ME and examines the impact it’s had not only on their lives, but on their relationships, and on the lives of those around them.

We hope this is a story that touches not only our patient community or people living with a chronic illness. Everyone at some point will face a difficult, confusing, or scary health issue; or it will happen to someone they love; or they will confront some other obstacle that will alter the course of their lives and destroy the image they once had of their personal future. When that happens, how will we react? Will it destroy us? Or will we be able to make beautiful things grow from those dark places?

Have to ask…what inspired the title of the doc?

Canary in a Coal Mine was an instinct rather than the outcome of a long intellectual deliberation. I thought “What the f*** is going on with me? This can’t be right.” And I believed then, as I do know, that if I had spent the first twenty-eight years of my life living up in the mountains or somewhere else pristine, this just would not have happened. I think it’s clear that chronic illnesses are increasing, and it’s not just because we are living longer. I got sick at 28. I believe the way we have changed our environment–what we eat, how we sleep, the toxins and chemicals we are exposed to everyday–wreak havoc on our immune systems.

There is another, deeper meaning of the title. And that’s that this disease’s history reveals deep flaws in our societies’ approach to medicine and the delivery of healthcare that I think everyone needs to know about. You can’t mess up with a disease this badly and not be making similarly grave errors, or have equally dangerous blind spots, elsewhere.

What are some of the challenges you’ve faced as a first-time filmmaker?

It’s funny, I don’t feel as though I’ve faced any challenges specific to being a first-time filmmaker. The biggest challenge is making a film while severely ill. Shooting is intense, and so we can only shoot about one day a month, maybe two. Even as we’ve been editing videos for our Kickstarter campaign or reaching out to potential subjects, there’s always this hard wall I run into where the more I do, the less I can do. This illness is so up and down that it’s hard to know if it’s just that the angle I’m laying at is too high, or if I sat up or walked too much two days ago, and I’ll recover with a day’s rest, or if I really am wearing myself down to a nub. Certainly, in the last six months, I’ve had fewer and fewer good days.

But in answer to your question, while there might be hurdles down the line with respect to funding or distribution that are just easier to surmount when you’ve done this before, where the creative part is concerned, the actual act of making the film, I don’t feel being green has been any disadvantage. It helps to have someone who knows the ropes! I’m working with a great creative producer, Kiran Chitanvis.

A still from the documentary Canary in a Coal Mine.

Your past career as a print journalist brought you from Beijing to East Africa. How has that experience shaped you?

I learned that many of the stories we hear from these places may have little to do with what matters to the people there, or what they would rank in the top five most important trends in their country or culture. It’s about the market back home. When reporters choose which stories to tell and how to tell them, it has to somehow fit into the existing narrative. For years, half of the stories coming out of China were about human rights. Not to say that the struggle for broader political and social rights is not immensely important, but there was so much more going on at the time that was crucial to understanding how China was transforming itself that just wasn’t getting covered.

It makes me a bit afraid of the prospects for our film. We are trying to bring about a paradigm shift with respect to my disease. It’s easier to get the word out when you are telling a story people already think they know, or if it tweaks what they already know in a pleasantly surprising way. Charging through the gates on a purple unicorn? Not so much…

Did you receive formal training as a filmmaker?

Ha! Not unless you count the triple features my mother took me to as a kid. We’d buy a pair of tickets, then exist the theater four to seven hours later.

A documentary film, like a feature film is a collaboration of sort. What have you learned about creative partnerships through this whole process?

First, it’s good to win the lottery. My collaborator, Kiran Chitanvis, is amazing and we hooked up almost by accident. It’s important to find someone with whom there is a strong sense of a shared vision. The details will sort themselves out. Chemistry helps. So too does working with someone you like and who is generous and decent.

What’s the most inspiring, thought-provoking documentary you’ve ever viewed?

I am a big fan of both Super 8 and Sarah Polley, and loved Stories We Tell. I am, as many, a student of Errol Morris’s films. I suppose it’s really about loving creative nonfiction much more than I love either fiction or the straight-forward reporting of the facts. Truth is stranger than fiction, but it needs a story and a storyteller to really get at the capital tee sort of truth: the true heart of things.

I was also very much inspired by Rebirth, a film that followed survivors and bereaved families for nearly a decade after 9/11. The intimacy and connection between the subjects and the director interviewing them, Jim Whitaker, is amazing. I’ve never seen anything like that before.

Any tips for those wanting to do documentaries of their own?

Before embarking on this project, I reached out to friends and acquaintances in film for advice on “how to get started.” The best advice I received was, “Go forth! Make film!” In other words, the only way to make a documentary for the first time is to make a film for the first time. Thinking about writing a book, or making a movie, or jumping out of a plane does not get you to the doing, and it is only in the doing that you can start to realize what you know, what you can do, and what help you need from others.

Other than that, find a story you feel you have no choice but to tell.

Please show your support for this filmmaker by donating to her Kickstarter campaign! CLICK HERE.

[ad_2]