A Year in Review: 2020
What a shit year 2020 turned out to be. The U.S. has surpassed 300,000 deaths from COVID-19, including one member of my family who I lost in April back home in Detroit. Beyond that, I had another family member who was hospitalized for a different reason in October. My family dog also passed away as a result of a freak accident.
As I navigated these personal blows and crises, the rest of the country not only grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic and the discrimination against and killings of Black Americans. There was no way for me to predict how this year would have been back in January.
Shortly after ringing in the New Year in Chicago, I attended a two-day workshop in New York hosted by the Sidney Hillman Foundation, where I listened to experts give their tips and tricks for labor research and reporting. I also met with an editor of a magazine I worked with previously in hopes of working with them again. In between my professional development and networking, my significant other and I walked the streets of New York for so long that my legs and feet went numb. I mostly spent time in bustling Manhattan, but I popped into Brooklyn just before I left. Part of me wishes I could have visited Queens, the Bronx, Long Island… I didn’t have enough time to take in all the flavors of the city. But I had some great pizza and sushi and saw a couple of former classmates while I was there. In hindsight, it didn’t occur to me that was the last time I could have experienced New York before the world changed. It was unseasonably warm in New York, but Chicago had plenty of snow awaiting me when I touched down at O’Hare.
I came back to New York that month and began working on a story that got killed. (Nearly a year later, I’m still hoping to publish it somewhere.) I celebrated my significant other’s birthday, wrote a piece for OneZero and planned to visit my grandma for her birthday. Mom and I had a whole plan to take her out for a girl’s day, but then the world shut down in mid-March just before I would have gone home by bus back to Michigan. I’ve been in Chicago separated from my family and sheltering-in-place ever since.
Professionally, the year took a downturn before picking back up again. I, like many other freelancers, took a hit financially in May and June. The industry continued to shrink, laying off workers and slashing their freelance budgets. I began sending out letters of introduction to potential new clients and wondering how long I could survive before dipping into my emergency savings. (Freelancing allowed me to earn just enough to start saving for emergencies, though not enough to withstand a crisis like this without federal aid for months).
Things started to pick up in July and escalated until I hit my first five-figure month in October thanks to a couple of features I worked on and a high-end content marketing client I landed. On one hand, it was great to have more money coming in, but I also felt like I was approaching burnout. In the fall, I told my clients that I was taking time off over the holidays to recuperate.
The days and weeks this year were especially long, but the months and year sped by from within my little apartment. It wasn’t until Molly McCluskey interviewed me for Poynter that I had a second to reflect on the impact this year had on my sense of professional purpose. Yes, this year was very trying for me personally, and it reminded me of the importance of loved ones. It also reignited my passion for investigative journalism. To me, the need for investigative reporting that centers on the concerns of marginalized people is especially urgent. Seeing people march in the streets for Black Lives—pandemic be damned—indicated how essential analytical, investigative reporting is in the era of misinformation and media mistrust. Below are some of my articles that were published this year, and I’d love to share threads from other freelance writers who’ve written cool stuff this year. For those who haven’t published much or at all this year, I’d still like to hear about your bright spots in an otherwise bleak year.
TikTok’s Digital Blackface Problem (OneZero): I pitched this article to OneZero after receiving a tip from a TikTok user who thought a person of color should look into the article. It was enlightening to talk with scholars about the permeation of Black culture across TikTok and other social platforms and dissect what context is lost in the process.
Putting Freedom Colonies on the Map (Planning): This piece was assigned to me after I sent a letter of introduction to the magazine, which you can read more about here. I’m always happy to take on articles that allow me to research America’s overlooked Black history.
Happier TRAILS (Hour Detroit magazine): This piece was assigned to me this year. I’ve written a couple of other articles for the magazine over the past couple of years, which as a Detroit native has been a great joy to me. I drew from my childhood in Detroit Public Schools to report on the efforts the school district is making now to support today’s students through a new program.
100 Federal Rollbacks (And Counting) (Planning magazine): After my first article for the magazine went well, Planning magazine assigned me this article to write, which I enjoyed reporting and writing despite the complexity of the topic.
Employers and co-workers want Black women's expertise. But are they paying them for it? (The Guardian): Another writer connected me with the editor who ultimately edited this piece, because she felt the idea would be best handled by a Black woman writer. I must admit that it was my first as-told-to style article, but I was very glad to give voice to a subtle, yet significant issue.
This Female Founder Is On A Mission To Make Synthetic Hair Sustainable (Bustle): An editor assigned me this article. I wrote another article for Bustle earlier this year and several others in the past. It’s been a while since I could cover up-and-coming Black women entrepreneurs, so I’m glad I got to have an insightful conversation with her.
“Being Removed Is Life Or Death”: Is Apple’s Fortnite Feud the Next Stage of the Techlash? (Vanity Fair): After seeing some of my tweets and previous work, editors at Vanity Fair reached out to me to gauge my interest in writing for the publication. To start, my editor assigned me this article on Apple’s influence on the mobile app market.
“You Become Hostage to Their Worldview”: The Murky World of Moderation on Clubhouse, a Playground for the Elite (Vanity Fair): My editor wasn’t sure if there was a story to be told about Clubhouse. Of course, after talking with sources about their experiences on the app, it turned out to be one of the most important tech articles I’ve written to date.
What are some of your favorite articles you’ve published this year? If you haven’t published anything, what’s an accomplishment you’re most proud of that you’ve achieved this year? Tell me in the comments or email me at contact@thefreelancebeat.com. Happy holidays!
