Q&A

Nia knows bestNia knows best

BY ELEANOR BISHOP | PHOTO PROVIDED BY NIA DUMAS Nia Dumas is forging a new path in the OU media scene.

Nia Dumas has long been committed to uplifting Black voices, including her own.

The Ohio University junior is studying journalism and serves as the president of the Black Student Communications Caucus, OU’s Sigma Gamma Rho Eta Psi sorority chapter and the National Pan-Hellenic Council. Melanin in the Media, her new podcast, is a continuation of that mission. Since launching in February of 2020, Melanin in the Media has grown into a five-person team. Dumas does not have any plans to slow down any time soon.

WHAT WAS YOUR INSPIRATION FOR STARTING THIS PODCAST?

One thing was that I didn’t really feel like I belonged at OU … even when I went to go look at The Post or things like that, they did not speak to me; when I walked into the newsrooms, no one looked like me, and then the stories they were covering … they cover large topics, but they don’t understand the subculture and the norms of those things. One thing [The Post] talked about was rap music, and they talked about a rapper like, “Oh he began rapping because he grew up without a dad,” and that lowkey irritated me because … there’s so much more depth and nuance than that. You don’t understand how systemically that was done. Hip hop in itself is a subculture, and I got sick of people trying to tell our stories for the sake of “diversity and inclusion” when they didn’t have the knowledge to tell our stories. So, I created [the podcast] because I felt that we deserve to have a place where the Black narrative can thrive and feel comfortable.

HOW DID YOU CONNECT WITH YOUR CURRENT CO-HOST, MIKAELA WOODS, AND FORMER CO-HOST, MYLES JAY WORTMAN?

I knew [Mikaela] from OU because she used to be a Photo-J major. Myles and I are both on the [Black Student Communications Caucus] board and we’re really good friends. Over the summer, we just said, ‘Let’s set a date, let’s revamp, what do we want to do over this pandemic break that we weren’t able to do? How do we want to refocus? How do we want to restructure the episodes as far as topics, as far as layout?’ And once we did that, we were set to go. That’s when we [added] a PR director, a social media manger, a content editor. All that came after and I’m just really appreciative of them.

HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHAT TOPICS TO COVER?

Usually, we will try to focus on something that involves OU, pertaining to the Black community or Black students at this age group. One thing we have to do first is ask, ‘What is one thing that sets us apart? … At the end of the day, we’re Black college students, so we know what Black college students are going through, especially at PWIs [Predominantly White Institutions]. So, that’s kind of what we focus on, what we feel is important. Sometimes we cover major events; when schools came back, we covered [the coronavirus] and how that affects people of color and we also talked about how Trump was meeting with rappers and things like that. We also go into topics that are very nuanced. One of our more popular episodes was “Appropriation vs. Appreciation,” where we talked about, particularly in the fashion industry, how they steal Black people’s ideas – which is nothing new. One of our latest episodes that we did was involving the inauguration and how Kamala Harris is the first woman of color [Vice President], but that doesn’t mean that we’re not allowed to criticize her just because she’s Black. Everyone’s open to criticism.

HAS THE PODCAST BEEN WELL RECEIVED?

Actually, yes. I’m always shocked … It just always surprises me when people DM me, “Hi, I liked this episode of your podcast.” Someone emailed me a few weeks ago asking me if they could use an episode of the podcast and cite it in one of their textbooks ... It’s just always amazing to me, because I feel like, “Oh, people are actually listening.” Because, of course, listeners are important, but I started Melanin in the Media just because I’m a journalism major – this is what I love. This is what I crave to do; I like to make content. I just was like, “Ok, I’m going to produce content and whoever listens, listens, whoever doesn’t, doesn’t.” But overall, we get great feedback. It’s very humbling.

WHAT DO YOU SEE FOR THE FUTURE OF MELANIN IN THE MEDIA?

Within the next year, I would love to see my team expand … I want to do more within Melanin in the Media. Not everyone likes to listen to audio, so maybe [we’ll] have a video portion … people can watch it on YouTube. Right now, we’re working on a website, and we’re also working on producing other media content. I have my own podcast called Nia Knows Best, which is also under the Melanin and the Media brand. Mikaela … has something that we also produce called Molding Mindfulness that’s focused on spirituality from African and Native American cultures ... I just really want to create a place where the Black narrative can thrive, and we can tell our stories. Years from now, I would like to have my own media company and have Melanin in the Media be a subdivision of that, where we produce podcasts for young creators. One thing I really want is to focus on young creators, especially going through college, because we kind of get ignored or thrown to the side. [It’s like], either you have your degree and you’re important or you’re not. That in-between space – nobody really talks about, so I would love to help young media professionals.

WHAT CAN OU STUDENT PUBLICATIONS DO TO BE MORE INCLUSIVE AND CREATE A MORE WELCOMING SPACE FOR STUDENTS OF COLOR?

I feel like when people think about “diversity and inclusion” I think they think about it wrong. I think right now the term “diversity and inclusion” is just like, all minorities. [People say], ‘If we have a few Black people and a few women and a few Native Americans and a few Hispanics that’s diversity and inclusion’ — which it’s not that. I don’t like the term because that takes away from all of our independent struggles. There are struggles that only Black people experience. There are things that only the Latinx community experiences that I don’t experience, so I feel like grouping [us together for] “diversity and inclusion” takes away our separate voices. Just because we’re all minorities don’t mean we all have the same things. I think that’s one thing that OU, as a whole, needs to do. They need to rebrand that definition.

I would also say step two [is], just because you know [something] is an important story that needs to be covered, [if your publication doesn’t] have anybody equipped to apply context to this story so that it can get told properly, then you shouldn’t tell that story, in my opinion. I think a lot of these publications are mainly white and male, and when you look at OU as a whole, it’s a PWI, so OU is just a microcosm of society, of course it’s going to be majority white.

So, I feel like if you don’t understand the subcultures and norms of these things you shouldn’t tell the story … You write a story about how rappers don’t have dads, now someone reading that story who comes from a majority white neighborhood who doesn’t have experience with the Black community or other people of color, they’re going to think that’s the Godforsaken truth. Just because you think a story needs to be told and you’re not equipped to do that, you have to be like, 'If I tell this story will I be able to do it justice or am I doing it a disservice?' I would rather have publications not do anything at all than do something incorrectly. b

Melanin in the Media is available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.