Bidding Adieu to Forbes.com After Ten Years As a Freelance Reporter
Change is inevitable, but that doesn’t mean it’s always embraced with openness and courage. It pulls at the seams of who you once believed yourself to be, and asks questions you don’t quite have the answers to yet: Who am I in this season of my life? What do I do with the parts of me that I’ve outgrown?
As 2026 asks me to steady my sights on new endeavours, it also demands that I leave a few paths behind.
I find it almost poetic that some of the roads I walked on are landmarked on my Instagram stories and grid posts, which only pay homage to where I’ve been, but also serve as landmarkers of reflection.
Young and bright eyed, and with my laptop forever glued to my side, by 2016 I was already nearly a decade into solidifying my career in journalism, with my words gracing every major newspaper across the country.
I knew I was destined to be a storyteller, but I suddenly had an itch for something more.
Through the recommendation of a friend, I decided to lend my pen to ForbesWomen, and within six months, I was promoted to senior contributor. Most of you know I didn’t follow the traditional route to where I was, so simply seeing my name in bylines each month offered constant comfort to the young girl in me who first decided to take a risk on herself and her passions.
That is, of course, until the realities of the industry came knocking.
Within the first few months, I recognized that what was required of me was, to be frank, completely unsustainable. I’d wanted to use my platform to offer careful and insightful visibility to Black and POC women who were making waves throughout varying industries or whom Natalie Warned likes to call, the anonymous extraordinaries. But what my editor wanted was a narrow focus on A-listers who already had access to the spotlight. The turnaround time was also quick which worked for others since the revenue structure was a pay-per-article scheme.
Almost immediately, I felt the emergence of an invisible ceiling above me which bound me in the amount of care I could put into my stories and the amount of money I could make. The pressure of that feeling only grew with time.
The desire to use my skills (as a storyteller, strategist, and researcher) to amplify the stories of those I admired, and those seeking assistance to better and broaden their brands, bubbled in me and rose to a peak in 2017. And that’s when WritersBlok, my celebrity ghostwriting agency was born.
My time at ForbesWomen continued as I built the foundation for my company. It would be wrong for me to not acknowledge the learnings the opportunity provided me with, from the people I interviewed to the lessons they imparted on me. ForbesWomen became the perfect master class and groundwork required for me to become a successful businesswoman myself.
My goal was to remove that proverbial ceiling. But I could have never imagined that in slowly working towards that, I would also get a front row seat to how life as a business owner worked, and how they cultivated a growth mindset. I was beyond grateful for this blessing.
Even as my output at ForbesWomen slowed, the quality of my features never wavered. I held true to my initial goal and ensured that I was paving a way for other Black women to talk about the people and things that were shaping industries and culture. When I started at ForbesWomen, I was only 1 of 50 senior contributors, in a group of over 2000 contributors spread across the entire Forbes ecosystem.
Despite the love I had for my work as a journalist, nearly 10 years into my freelance career at this publication, I knew the sun was setting on that chapter of my life. It’s probably why I wasn’t all too shocked when, at the end of last year, I was singled out for the quota I’d seemingly missed in 2025. What did shock me, however, was how impersonal the entire discussion felt. My editor didn’t even bother to inquire about why my momentum slowed down.
The short answer: I became a mother.
Yes, you read that right. And some of you may be learning this news for the first time because I chose to keep such a precious milestone off the internet. I gave birth to my first son in October 2024 and my second son in January of this year. Back to back pregnancies, just over one year apart. As one chapter of my life started, another ended without any empathy or intention. Nearly a decade as a senior contributor at Forbes.com and nearly a decade of featuring hundreds of women, all wrapped up in a coldly written email.
Sadly, the team and I were simply unable to agree on contractual terms (mainly the number of articles I’d produce per month), and so, we mutually agreed to part ways.
My role as a journalist is officially over.
I’ve hesitated sharing this news, but felt it appropriate to mention it publicly as I know so many of you continue to reach out for the possibility of being featured. I also wonder how many of those relationships will fall flat or flourish now that I’m no longer there.
But while I may be exiting the rigorous grind of being a journalist, I’m excited for the extra time that’s freed up, to pour into offering my expertise in a more educational capacity. I’ll still be available for those seeking advice and support on how to pitch to publications, navigate industry shifts as founders and brand builders, and of course, maintaining media literacy.
So, I guess I’m not completely bidding adieu to journalism, but ensuring that with my departure, the door remains open and the lane feels widened for new women-led voices to define the future of what’s to come.
My north star is and will be my ghostwriting agency. I will continue to lead my brilliant all-women team as I have done for several years. Accepting that you’re in a season of transition is messy, but on the other side of that is usually something magical.
There’s a deep and often vulnerable shedding that takes place just before the battle is won.