Alumni Profile - LaToya Smith

LaToya M. Smith is an award winning journalist. In July she won two Salute to Excellence Awards from the National Association of Black Journalist for General Reporting for her Black Enterprise January 2012 cover story, "BE Next: Masters of Design,” revealing a new generation of innovators who used their vision and talent to position industries for the 21st Century in a powerful editorial package. She also won for Single Topic Series, "BE Financial Fitness Contest.”

Smith left BE in September so that she could focus on directing and producing her first documentary which she aims to complete by the fall of 2014. She also joined Beauty and the Bull Magazine as its Editor-in-Chief. The digital start-up magazine promotes women's investor intelligence and connects women investors to women advisors and analyst.

She joined Black Enterprise Magazine as an editorial assistant in 2008 and quickly rose through the ranks to become editor of the company's second largest franchise--Wealth for Life, which includes the 10 Wealth for Life principles and the Financial Fitness Contest. The Wealth for Life principles serve as a step-by-step guide to responsible saving, investing, and spending in order to build wealth and pass it on to future generations.

Prior to joining BE, Smith worked as a Statehouse reporter covering Massachusetts government and politics. She received her B.A. in History and B.S. in Communications from Eastern Connecticut State University. She graduated with a M.S. in Print Journalism from Boston University in 2008. She is a mentor for First Take NYC, a High School Journalism program sponsored by the New York Association of Black Journalists. First Take helps teens jumpstart their future careers in the news business.