Damon Young

Damon Young is a writer, editor, and cultural critic known for his commentary on race, identity, and Black life in America. Young began his career by launching the blog Very Smart Brothas (VSB), which started as a dating blog and evolved into a widely read digital magazine. Alongside co-founder Panama Jackson and other contributors, Young grew VSB into a prominent platform for discussions on pop culture, politics, and race. The site was later acquired by Gizmodo Media Group.

Young's debut book, "What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker: A Memoir in Essays," is a collection of personal essays exploring themes of race, gender, class, and Black identity. The memoir received critical acclaim and was recognized with the Barnes & Noble Discover Award, the Thurber Prize for American Humor, and nominations for the PEN America Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award, NAACP Image Award, and Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. NPR included the book in its list of notable nonfiction works.

Young's writing has appeared in publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC, Al-Jazeera, Slate, Salon, The Guardian, New York Magazine, Jezebel, Complex, EBONY, Essence, USA Today, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He is the creator and host of the Crooked Media podcast "Stuck with Damon Young" and has served as a columnist for The Washington Post Magazine, a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, and a columnist for GQ. Young was the inaugural writer-in-residence at the University of Pittsburgh's David C. Frederick Honors College. Ebony included him in its Power 100 list under the Luminaries category.

Young expanded his editorial work with the anthology "That's How They Get You: An Unruly Anthology of Black American Humor," which features contributions from writers and performers such as Roy Wood Jr., Wyatt Cenac, and Angela Nissel. The anthology highlights the significance of Black American humor in cultural critique and storytelling. Young's career encompasses blogging, memoir writing, podcast hosting, and anthology editing, focusing on Black storytelling, humor, and cultural analysis.