Kyra Kyles of YR Media: 5 Steps We Must Take To Truly Create An Inclusive, Representative, and Equitable Society
An Interview With Tyler Gallagher
Don’t post about it, be about it. So many companies put up hashtags about Black Lives and against Asian hate, but still have the same homogenous boardrooms and staff they did pre-pandemic. In this era of receipts, people are looking for results, not just empty promises and slogans. If you believe in equity, reflect it in who you hire and how you pour into the community.
As part of our series about ‘5 Steps We Must Take To Truly Create An Inclusive, Representative, and Equitable Society’ I had the pleasure to interview Kyra Kyles.
YR Media CEO Kyra Kyles is a passionate advocate for youth. As an expert in diversity and representation, she is creating pathways for young people to drive the national conversation and, ultimately, take their seat at the table as leaders in media, tech and creative industries.
Kyra has spent over 20 years in the media industry, with a consistent emphasis on equity and representation and an impressive track record of expanding young audiences and leading sustainable organizational growth.
In her most recent role as the Field Foundation’s Program Officer of Media and Storytelling, she managed a groundbreaking equity-focused journalism and documentary filmmaking fund, the first of its kind in the organization’s history. Before joining the Field Foundation, she was with EBONY Media Operations, most recently as Editor-in-Chief and Senior Vice President of Digital Editorial, where she expanded audiences, created new revenue streams, and scaled up operations, including establishing a Los Angeles office and an in-house branded and original content studio.
Kyra also worked at the Chicago Tribune for six years, where she was recruited specifically to attract and energize young audiences via its millennial-focused RedEye brand. In addition to achieving this, she increased the Tribune’s multicultural coverage and gained recognition as a digital pioneer, print reporter, blogger, on-air personality and well-known pundit.
Kyra continues to demonstrate her commitment to youth empowerment as a volunteer member of the Board of Advisors for Dream on Education, a Chicago-based youth development organization and, previously, as two-time President of the award-winning National Association of Black Journalists-Chicago where she built a mentorship program connecting students and working members of the media. Kyra also has served as a tutor and mentor for high school students at the Mercy Home for Girls.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to ‘get to know you’. Can you tell us a bit about how you grew up?
Absolutely! I grew up in Beverly Hills in Chicago, a storied neighborhood on the Southwest side of the city that is often compared to its Los Angeles counterpart. My parents, W. Louis Kyles and Toni Kyles, raised us in this beautiful, semi-suburban setting within the city and I always had a great time with my younger sister/BFF, Kozi. The two of us got into a lot of adventures there and also learned quite a bit about the world fairly early because Beverly was a predominantly Irish Catholic neighborhood. Suffice it to say, we stuck out as two little brown girls living in this area so our mother taught us early and often about who we were, where we came from and not to take any foolishness from bigots, even the baby bigots aka the children our age who liked to grab our hair and, in one case, threw rocks at us when we would play on our lawn.
Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?
I am a straight up bibliophile who used to eschew my own childhood birthday parties to go curl up with a book. True story. So I’ve read many wonderful books that have had an indelible impact, so I’ll narrow it down to what I’ve read recently. Isabel Wilkerson’s brilliant Caste, and it is such an important text, particularly during this time of a real racial reckoning in this country that has been exacerbated by the pandemic and the natural introspection it inspires. Wilkerson’s comparison of the treatment of African Americans as sub-citizens compared to the caste systems in India was incredibly riveting, though an admittedly hard read in tandem with the current news cycle. Just as Kimberlé Crenshaw, co-founder and executive director of the African American Policy Forum, has contributed so heavily to this current “critical race theory” education aka truth that is being debated right now, Wilkerson provides this beautifully written, very literary treatise on how our skin color stamps us in a way that cannot be blinked away by individual niceness or so-called tolerance. It doesn’t go away despite how many hashtags we throw at it. It marks us as part of a system separate from the ideals of America, and even in 2021 with corporations headed to space and self-driving vehicles taking to the roadways, it is inescapable.
Do you have a favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life or your work?
“The function of freedom is to free someone else,” by Toni Morrison resonates powerfully with me because despite the strides I have made as an individual in my journalism career, I have always worked to expand opportunities for others who, like me, are underrepresented in the field. Our voices are important and we can’t be “tokens.” That is how we have to be across so many fields, from technology to media to finance. Counting yourself as a success without helping others is a hollow victory.
How do you define “Leadership”? Can you explain what you mean or give an example?
Leadership for me is about recognizing and supporting talent so that it develops for the greater good of all that it touches. I go out of my way to work with professionals who are subject matter experts in their field. My goal is to stand back, observe and let them know I am here to get them the resources or development they need for our collective success. It would be a disservice to them, and frankly to me, to bring them onboard and stand over them.
In my work, I often talk about how to release and relieve stress. As a busy leader, what do you do to prepare your mind and body before a stressful or high stakes meeting, talk, or decision? Can you share a story or some examples?
Music is my saving grace and I find myself gravitating toward music that is conducive to concentration or relaxation depending on what the situation calls for at that moment. You can often find me listening to Thundercat or H.E.R when I’m writing a strategy or an article. I definitely veer toward my favorite genre, hip-hop, if I need to get hyped up before a high stakes event. Wu-Tang Forever! I’ll also throw some Kendrick Lamar in there or Denzel Curry, but I am so careful not to “share computer audio” on Zoom in that case.
Ok, thank you for all that. Now let’s move to the main focus of our interview. The United States is currently facing a very important self-reckoning about race, diversity, equality and inclusion. This is of course a huge topic. But briefly, can you share your view on how this crisis inexorably evolved to the boiling point that it’s at now?
It evolved because it was ignored. Just as you are seeing this outcry about critical race theory, essentially actual important historical facts being shared with students, this country has for too long tried to bury its ugliness under a veneer of patriotism. This is why it so outraged people to see Colin Kaepernick peacefully kneel for awareness of #BlackLivesMatter and yet these same individuals have the audacity to be shocked at a police officer kneeling on, and killing George Floyd, in broad daylight surrounded by a crowd. I remember a time when the self-positioned anti-woke folks tried to depict #BlackLivesMatter as some kind of terrorist threat. Now they want to make sure White children don’t learn about the atrocities of racism too early, meanwhile I was no more than four or five when I first faced racist treatment with another little White girl who refused to hold my hand in a ballet class. Her mother stood there, watched and did nothing because I’m sure she’s the one who taught her to recoil from brown skin. During the pandemic, we didn’t have anything to distract us as a society. Everything was closed and we were just inundated with images of anti-Black, and currently another wave of anti-AAPI violence that comes out of pure hatred and cruelty. It, as well as the 2020 Elections and that inane Capitol riot, made for this powder keg moment we are seeing now, and younger generations who you would assume wouldn’t be still fighting this fight are fed up. I see this every day at YR Media as they are joining activists of all generations with this urgent push to end these inequities.
Can you tell our readers a bit about your experience working with initiatives to promote Diversity and Inclusion? Can you share a story with us?
Throughout my career, which spans media and corporate communications, fighting for diversity and inclusion at work has always been important to me. When I was not in a position of management, I tried to create more equitable workplaces by recruiting people of color and LGBQT+ into the places I worked. I still remember when a boss I will not name had the nerve to ask me if I had referred a Black woman because we were “related.” (We very clearly weren’t related as the only resemblance was we were both brown.) He had never asked that to my White colleagues who routinely referred and got their friends, family and mere acquaintances roles at this same agency. As I began working in management, I continued to stress that having a workspace that reflected America was not just a moral obligation, but smart business and that is true no matter your industry. As a former president of the National Association of Black Journalists-Chicago and a frequent speaker on diversity issues, I make it my business to make people who are okay with the status quo squirm in their seats. I am disappointed if I don’t elicit that reaction.
This may be obvious to you, but it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you articulate to our readers a few reasons why it is so important for a business or organization to have a diverse executive team?
Having a team that looks like the country we live in should be of top priority, for reasons having to do with both social responsibility and the common sense that it is the best way to serve your audience and/or consumer. One would hope that if a company’s leadership isn’t so-called “woke” at least the common sense element of being able to think critically and with nuance about their different constituents might hit home. I know there are some who think that by hiring “diverse” interns, they are solving a business challenge because they can now put on paper that they are increasing BIPOC staff, but we all know that there has to be diversity at every level of an organization. That is the way you see true, seismic and significant change, not by placing the entire weight of diversity on the shoulders of someone who just walked into your doors and into the working world at large.
Ok. Here is the main question of our discussion. You are an influential business leader. Can you please share your “5 Steps We Must Take To Truly Create An Inclusive, Representative, and Equitable Society”. Kindly share a story or example for each.
- Stop making excuses.
It’s exhausting to watch this country debate “critical race theory” aka pure historic facts in schools and deny a deserving scholar like Nikole Hannah-Jones tenure because the “1619” project ruins this image of the “heroes” of American society and underscores how the ugliness of slavery taints the democracy we love to crow about internationally. Instead of fighting the truth, try to change the reality we are living in as that…not massaging facts is the way for America to be what it truly claims: a free, democratic society where anyone has a chance to succeed. Racism is in systems, not just in people, so don’t get defensive, be an anti-racist who is helping us overthrow those constructs.
2. Get outside your (racial) comfort zone.
Three quarters of White people don’t have any friends who are BIPOC. This impacts so many aspects of life, such as networking where this closed system feeds the intractable pipelines of patronage from Hollywood to Wall Street. Instead of just enjoying BIPOC culture from the safety of seeing it through your Tik Tok screen or dipping in and out of it at restaurants, via entertainment and in sporting arenas, get out of your segregated neighborhood, widen your friend groups and place yourself in a position to learn. That doesn’t mean peppering BIPOC buddies with questions and placing them in charge of your education, but it’s easier to care about causes when you know someone who is personally impacted. I had a friend, who is White, who told me she didn’t know that store clerks followed Black women through stores until I told her about it, so she was steps ahead of the game when the media began to cover the Karen-ing of America.
3. Change laws and policies, not just attitudes though you can certainly change those too.
Racism is thought of as an action, like burning a cross or calling someone a slur. As a result, “solutions” like being nice to people who don’t look like you or not telling bigoted jokes is seen as some kind of way that individuals can turn the tide of racial hate. It’s far more complicated than that, and this is why we have to take aggressive, anti-racist action like re-evaluating how people of color are treated by systems and being willing to make changes that are more pervasive. One racist man refusing to sell his home to a Black family is certainly an issue, but redlining which limits Black people’s overall capacity to buy, sell and accumulate generational wealth from their homes is a much larger problem. One “bad apple” police officer in a neighborhood would be solved if that one person is charged, convicted and sentenced for racist injustice out on the streets, but a far more intractable issue is a police system that continuously metes out injustice disproportionately to BIPOC citizens, most notably African American and LatinX no matter what part of the country you live in. This is evidence we need police accountability, not more “nice” police. We have to look at systems, not individual behavior, to correct these baked in, bone deep issues that affect housing, policing, the justice system, the educational system and financial sustainability of families and communities.
4. Recognize your privilege and leverage it for greater equity.
White males have the most privilege, even those who are not financially well off because society perceives them as “greater than” and it affords them opportunities that they may not recognize, such as not being pulled over by the police for no reason or receiving credit and/or loans because they are outside of a community that has had to pay a racial tax. They are also the beneficiaries of the patriarchy that governs this country and you can see that all the way up to our U.S. government where White men are overrepresented when compared to the demographics of this country. I myself may have some privileges, having gone to a so-called prestigious university and growing up in a community that offered me resources and advantages that were considered uncommon in Chicago. Knowing that, even with the handful of privilege points that I have, I try to ensure I (a) recognize it and (b) if I manage to get into a room that is closed to others, find a way to open the door. If more people did this, and that includes purported allies who only want to see communities of color advance to a certain point, we’d be in a better place as a society.
5. Don’t post about it, be about it.
So many companies put up hashtags about Black Lives and against Asian hate, but still have the same homogenous boardrooms and staff they did pre-pandemic. In this era of receipts, people are looking for results, not just empty promises and slogans. If you believe in equity, reflect it in who you hire and how you pour into the community.
We are going through a rough period now. Are you optimistic that this issue can eventually be resolved? Can you explain?
Well, I would not describe it as optimistic but am confident that it MUST be resolved. My Great Grandmother Belle Cosey fought for civil rights alongside Dr. Martin Luther King and was part of the Poor People’s movement. My mother, her granddaughter, still ended up sitting in the “colored” balcony. My father, alongside my mother, had to fight to build their home in a predominantly White neighborhood in Chicago where some unhappy neighbors wrote “Niger” on the front porch. I watched George Floyd die on video and am still watching as Black voters’ rights are being actively and obviously suppressed by conservative forces. Why are we still having this conversation? I want to believe it will be resolved, but we’ve been at “eventually” for so long.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
I’d love to have a triple date with Naomi Osaka, Sha’Carri Richardson and Simone Biles, the latter of whom I had the honor of meeting and capturing for a cover when I was Editor-in-Chief, Vice President of Digital Editorial at EBONY. These brilliant young Black women are not only exemplary athletes, but excellent ambassadors who speak up and bring their whole selves to their fields. I love that they are eschewing the “gaze” that has for far too long kept our athletes silent about their experiences being Black in America and they inspire others to embrace every aspect of their beings and unapologetically take their place at the top.
How can our readers follow you online?
@thekylesfiles on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. I’d also love for readers to support the work of the young people of the organization I am so proud to represent: YR.Media
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!
Kyra Kyles of YR Media: 5 Steps We Must Take To Truly Create An Inclusive, Representative, and… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.