Copyright @ Anita Samuels. All rights reserved. 2016

Photo by Nancy La Lanne

Anita M. Samuels 

Author

  Samuels was born in Queens and raised in Roosevelt, New York. She graduated from Amityville Memorial
High School in 1984.
Samuels joined the Style section of The New York Times, the most prominent
newspaper in the country, in 1988.
  After noticing what she considered a void in positive articles about African-Americans,
she became a writer and contributor to the paper.
  Her first story, about Brooklyn-based textile artist Xenobia Bailey, appeared in the Sunday
 “Style Makers” section, in 1990.
  In 1991, Samuels won an award from the National Association of Black Journalists for several of her
feature stories, including Afrocentric fashions, natural hairstyles for black women and sartorial styles
among students.
  A year later, she won scholarships from the National Association of Black Journalists and its New York chapter, NYABJ and took courses at
New York University. She also garnered attention for a major business report on the bankruptcy of megastar recording artists TLC.
  Samuels resides in Brooklyn, New York, and is the mother of one son, Shane, and grandmother to Maliyah. Career Samuels has served on
the editorial staffs of several national publications. In 1997, she was an assistant editor for BET Weekend, the second-largest publication targeting African-Americans, with a circulation of 1.3 million. The magazine was owned by Black Entertainment Television. In 1998, she became the Rhythm & Blues editor at Billboard magazine, considered the trade magazine of record for the music industry. The post was based in Los Angeles.
  By 1999, she had returned to New York to join the staff of the newly launched Vanguarde Media. She held posts at two of Vanguard's publications: Associate editor of Impact, a monthly music lifestyle magazine; managing editor for Impact Weekly, a radio, and retail trade magazine.
  As a freelance journalist, Samuels has written exclusive, front-page articles for the New York  Daily News and her work has appeared in Consumer’s Digest, Global Rhythm magazine, The Asbury Park Press, Upscale, Honey, CODE, 
Caribbeat Magazine, Heart & Soul, a health and fitness publication, 
Forum, published by the National Forum for Black Public Administrators, FierceForBlackWomen.com, and DiverseBusinessNews.com.
She was also a contributing writer for "Mama’s Little Baby: The Black Woman’s Guide to Pregnancy, Childbirth and Baby’s First Year," by Dennis Brown and Pamela A. Toussaint (Dutton, 1997).
Publications
Samuels’ first book, "Rants & Retorts: How Bigots Got a Monopoly on Commenting About News Online," is a provocative exploration of the way in which reader comment sections — created to foster the free flow of ideas and opinions on the news of the day — have spiraled downward into what many journalists call “cesspools” of racism and bigotry. The book features reader comments amassed over years from various news sites, as well as commentary and analysis by experts in media, journalism, law, and contemporary culture.  The foreword is by Chuck D, the founder of the groundbreaking hip-hop group Public Enemy.