Kyra Kyles

Kyra Kyles is an award-winning journalist, public speaker, multi-platform content producer and unapologetic
advocate for diverse representation, particularly for Black women, in mass media. Past Editor-in-Chief of EBONY
Magazine, where she also served as Senior Vice President and Head of Digital Editorial, Kyra holds over 20 years
of experience writing for publications including EBONY, JET magazine, JETmag.com, Chicago Tribune, Bustle,
the Chicago Sun-Times, Vibe.com and TheGrio to name a handful.
She also has ghost-written two books aimed at millennial audiences and two self-improvement manuscripts, one of
which is due out in 2019. In tandem with her sister/business partner, she is the co-producer/director/writer of several
buzzworthy digital Webisodes, including a parody of Facebook users called “Don’t Like” and “Human Resources:
The Series,” a sci fi workplace comedy which starred custom-made puppets and then-emerging comedian-turned
“Get Out” and “Bird Box” star, Lil Rel. To date, Myth Lab’s projects have been written up in LA Weekly, Reel
Chicago, Chicago Defender, profiled on WhoHaHa.com, and earned the ladies (and some puppets) a guest
appearance on WCIU’s “U and Me This Morning.”
Kyra wows audiences across platforms with her unique blend of humor, social commentary and media expertise as
a highly-sought-after keynote and featured speaker at high-profile events including the WOKE Entrepreneur
Conference, Blavity EmpowerHer Conference, Social Media Week, the inaugural Haiti Tech Summit, the Chicago
Humanities Festival, the Illinois League of Women Voters and back-to-back appearances at the Digital Strategy
Innovation conference as well as Social Media Week.
A go-to guest for issues related to the intersection of pop culture, race, sex and gender in America, she has appeared
as an on-air expert on numerous national outlets, such as The Real, NPR, WTTW’s “Black People Don’t,” CNN,
BBC, Huffington Post Black Voices, and makes regular on-air contributions to WBEZ-FM, WVON-AM. She also
has co-produced, as well as hosted, a popular television segment called “The Kyles Files” on WGN-TV.
Currently, this Chicago native keeps up a high profile, recently guest hosting an hour-long public affairs show (“The
Morning Shift”) on WBEZ-FM and she reaches nearly 10 million monthly readers combined through buzzworthy
opinion pieces for popular platforms including Bustle and TheGrio.
Kyra’s extensive work in the print, digital and broadcast realms have earned her numerous accolades including the
Chicago Tribune’s coveted Jones Beck Editorial Excellence Award for Journalism, a Media Movers & Shakers
award, Top 40 Under 40 awards from both WVON-AM and the Chicago Defender, the Tribune Company’s RedEye
On-the-Ball Award, and inclusion in Folio’s Top 100 in Media Industry list.
A graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism where she obtained two degrees
simultaneously as part of an accelerated master’s program, Kyra is the former twice-elected president of the National
Association of Black Journalists chapter and is a member of the Association of Women Journalists. She sits on the
boards and advisory bodies for several organizations including streaming platform, kweliTV; indie music app
PLATFORMZ; and Dream On Education, a non-profit focused on mentoring under-resourced youth on Chicago’s
South and West sides. She also tutors and mentors young women through the Mercy Home for Girls program.
For more information, please visit www.kyrakyles.com