Nsenga BurtonCo-Director, Concentration in Film and Media Management & Associate Teaching Professor, Film and Media
Nsenga Burton, Ph.D. is Co-Director of the Film and Media Management concentration at Emory University in the Department of Film and Media where she teaches courses on Hollywood entertainment industries, content creation and special topics like Reality Television and Hip-Hop Media.
She is an award-winning professor, multimedia journalist and blogger, filmmaker and producer. Currently, she serves as entertainment and culture editor for Black Press USA (National Newspaper Publishers Association) and has contributed to a variety of publications including The Daily Beast, The Grio, The New York Times and Huffington Post, where she writes culture and media criticism. In 2012, Dr. Burton founded The Burton Wire, an award-winning news blog that covers global news of the African Diaspora. In addition to her work as a journalist and professor, she is a leader in the field of technology and diversity, recently completing her term as Executive Director of the National Association of Multicultural Digital Entrepreneurs. She also leads a new media and technology consulting firm, The Burton Wire Media Group. Nsenga is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists, the NAACP Image Awards Nominating Committee, the National Communication Association, NU Council of 100 (Northwestern University), American Studies Association and the Society of Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS). Dr. Burton is the current co-chair of SCMS Black Caucus, Program Chair for the University of Southern California Atlanta Alumni Board, chair of the Atlanta Youth Board Commission and juror for the Bronze Lens Film Festival.
A former cultural critic for Creative Loafing, Nsenga serves as an expert commentator on radio, television and new media platforms including GPB, WABE-FM, WUGA-FM, WURD-AM Philadelphia, WEAA-FM Baltimore, WVON-FM Chicago, KPCC Los Angeles, WHUR-FM Washington, DC, WYPR-FM Baltimore, WFAE-AM Charlotte, WBFF-TV Fox News Baltimore, WSOC-TV Baltimore, WCCB-TV Charlotte, CCTV and ARISE TV (online), and HuffPost Live.
Dr. Burton is the winner of NABJ's 2013 Ray Taliaferro Entrepreneur of the Year Award and was a Scripps-Howard Fellow at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University. News One named The Burton Wire one of the top 15 blogs in the country and Dr. Burton has been a scholar-in-residence at New York University. An activist scholar, her latest book, Black Women's Mental Health: Balancing Strength & Vulnerability is currently out on SUNY Press. She served as co-editor of the book and wrote a chapter entitled, "The Representation of Black Women's Mental Illness on Being Mary Jane and How to Get Away with Murder." Additional academic publications include "Mad Men: Draper, Double Consciousness and The Invisibility of Blackness," in The Universe is Indifferent: Theology, Philosophy and Mad Men, eds. Ann Duncan and Jacob Goodson, Cascade Press, 2016 and "South African Soap Operas: A Rainbow Nation Realized?" appears in the anthology, Watching While Black: Centering the Television of Black Audiences, edited by Beretta E. Smith-Shomade.
A media production geek, Nsenga recently worked as a behind-the-scenes producer on Shaft (2019) and Little (2019). Dr. Burton has two book and media projects in progress and currently resides in Atlanta with her daughter Kai and fur-sons Mr. Miyagi and Mr. Surprise.
Education
- PhD, Critical Studies in Film and Television, University of Southern California,
- MA, Communication, University of Pennsylvania,
- MA, Cinema Studies, New York University,
- BS, Radio/TV/Film, Northwestern University
