About the Authors
Dr. Sheila Brooks, Ph.D
Dr. Sheila Brooks is an accomplished entrepreneur, author, Emmy-award winning journalist, expert in multicultural marketing and educator. She is founder, president and CEO of SRB Communications, a full-service marketing, advertising and PR agency that specializes in creating campaigns targeted to multicultural audiences. Her more than four decades of trailblazing leadership in media and communications reflects the long track record of success in and commitment to Washington, D.C.’s creative and entrepreneurial economy. The boutique agency has headquarters in Washington, D.C. with a satellite office in Baltimore, Maryland.
In her storied career as a TV anchor, reporter, executive producer and news director, she has received some of the most prestigious awards and recognitions in the industry. Among them are two Emmys and induction in the Mid-Atlantic region’s Silver Circle – an honor from the National Society of Television Arts and Sciences for 25 years of service. The Washington Association of Black Journalists created the Dr. Sheila Brooks Community Impact Award – presented each year to a local business leader or organization that demonstrates an outstanding dedication to community service. Dr. Brooks was inducted in the 2023 National Association of Black Journalists’ (NABJ) Hall of Fame. She received the prestigious 2019 NABJ Ida B. Wells Award, 2017 NABJ President’s Award – a three-time honor and 2011 NABJ Pat Tobin Entrepreneurial Award.
One of the highest entrepreneurial accolades Dr. Brooks received is the 2022 Minority Business Lifetime Achievement Award and induction into the Hall of Fame from the Capital Region Minority Supplier Development Council. On behalf of her company, SRB Communications, she accepted the 2019 National Supplier of the Year Award from the National Minority Supplier Development Council. She also received the 2019 NAACP Image Award Nomination for her first book, Lucile H. Bluford and the Kansas City Call: Activist Voice for Social Justice.
Throughout her career, she has been a dedicated advocate for minority and women entrepreneurs and small business. serving on numerous national and local nonprofit and university boards. Most notably, the Federal City Council as a board trustee and advisory board member for the Jim Vance Media Program at Archbishop Carroll High School. She serves as Chair of the President’s Club of DC, an organization of legacy African American entrepreneurs. Previously, she served as Chair of the Board of Visitors and a board member for Morgan State University’s Global School of Journalism and Communications.
Dr. Brooks has taught multicultural marketing in The George Washington University’s graduate school’s Strategic Public Relations Program and journalism courses at Howard University and Texas A & M University.
Dr. Brooks has a Ph.D. and Master of Arts degree from Howard University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, where she was inducted in the department’s 2018 Hall of Fame.
Clint C. Wilson II, Ed.D.
Clint C. Wilson II, Ed.D. is professor emeritus of journalism, communication, culture and media studies at Howard University and recipient of the University of Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism. He has authored or co-authored seven books. His scholarship has earned him recognition as a University of Missouri Honor Medalist for Distinguished Service in Journalism.
The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications honored him with its Lionel Barrow Award for Distinguished Achievement in Diversity Research and Education and The Society of Professional Journalists cited him with its Sigma Delta Chi Award for Excellence in Journalism Research. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly listed one of Dr. Wilson’s books as one of the 35 “most significant books of the 20th century”. Dr. Wilson was also a founding member of the Los Angeles chapter of the NABJ-LA established in 1980.
Dr. Wilson has a longstanding interest in issues relating to the rights of African Americans and other disfranchised groups to obtain fair and equitable treatment in all aspects of communications media including ownership, employment and image portrayal. His activism in these areas’ dates from the 1980s when he served as a director of the National Black Media Coalition in addressing such issues before the FCC.