Adrienne Samuels Gibbs

Adrienne Samuels Gibbs is an award-winning, Chicago-based, entertainment and culture journalist whose work appears in Fortune, Forbes, Marie Claire and Netflix. She is the author of Def Comedy Jam All-Stars Collector’s Edition; an editor at large for The Triibe; and the former director of Content for Medium dot com. Adrienne’s career started with her work as a reporter at The Miami Herald and The St. Pete Times before moving to the Boston Globe for her mid career reportage and narrative work. She returned to her hometown of Chicago to become the senior editor and eventually the EIC of Ebony magazine and then a columnist for The Chicago Sun-Times and a frequent host for NPR’s Chicago station, WBEZ-91.5 FM. 

From Chicago, Adrienne held many titles at Medium, including Director of Content, director of Multicultural and Director of Creator Growth. While at Medium, Adrienne was the creator and editor in chief of Momentum, Stop Asian Hate and ZORA. She worked with hundreds of writers and is particularly proud of her work in the astrology, religion and race spaces.

Adrienne’s freelance career has seen her working as both a writer and an editor for magazine, digital and book projects. She provides voiceover work when requested. Her clients include The New York Times T Brand Studio, Netflix, Northwestern University magazine, Chicago magazine, the National Council of Teachers of English Council Chronical magazine, Subaru, Bank of the West, Pitchfork, Essence, Braven, The Pivot Fund, Family Circle.

Cover Stories:  Taraji P. Henson, George Lucas, Chance the Rapper, Diddy, Viola Davis, Russell Simmons, Chief Keef, Ludacris, Chris Brown, Attica Locke, Mary Mary, Nina Yang Bongiovi and Queen Latifah. Denzel Washington, President Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston.

info Subjects

General

Arts & Culture
Business & Finance
Education
Food & Drink
Government & Politics
Lifestyle
Parenting
Pets
Religion & Spirituality
Wellness
Sports & Games
Science

notepad Skills

  • Advertorials
  • Annual reports
  • Articles
  • Blog posts
  • Books
  • Brochures
  • Case studies
  • Coaching
  • Communications strategy
  • Conference/meeting coverage
  • Content marketing
  • Copywriting
  • E-books
  • Editing
  • Essays
  • Event production
  • Feature writing
  • Ghostwriting
  • Ideation
  • Media relations
  • News
  • News releases
  • Op-Ed
  • Profiles
  • Project management
  • Publication management
  • Q&A
  • Speechwriting
  • Web copy

notepad Writing Credits

Netflix, Fortune, Forbes, NYT T Brand, Subaru Drive, Red Bull Media House, Lollapalooza, Pitchfork, Chicago Sun Times, Boston Globe, Miami Herald, St. Petersburg Times, The Chicago Defender, WBEZ-91.5 FM Chicago, Chicago magazine, University of Chicago, Northwestern University, Craft Council, Cook County Government (Rain Ready Brochure),

star Awards, Honors, Appointments

Panelist: Trimming the Fat – Best Practices for Features Editing | National Association of Black Journalists Convention Cleveland | Cleveland, OH August 2025

Lecturer: Women and the Media | Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland | Washington DC, April 2025

Featured Speaker: Health Fair and Civic Engagement Summit for Jack and Jill of America | Chicago, April 2025 Lecturer: Digital Media and Fandom | American University | April 2025
Co-host: Tech Career Exploration with Verizon | speaker | Chicago’s Verizon flagship store | 2025
Chicago 2.0: A Public Affairs Deep Dive | CAN-TV Chicago | 2025

Advanced Feature Writing seminar | speaker | NABJ annual convention | 2024
Anti-Violence Community Strategies | Panel Interviewer | University of Chicago Emergency Medicine | 2024

Tips For Freelancers | Speaker | Annual Meeting Chicago NABJ | 2022
Reflections of Covid, A Beloved Grandmother’s Gift | Solo Feature | NPR-WBEZ Radio 2020 Cultural Impact of Chris Rock | Cultural Commentator | CNN | 2023
Social Media and Digital Journalism Lecture | University of Maryland | 2022- 2019
HumanitiesX | Long Form Social Content | Depaul University | 2021
The Woman King Q&A with the Cast, Delta Sigma Theta X | Sony Pictures Entertainment | 2022
How To Get Your News In the News | NABJ | 2011-2020
Fireside Chat with Chance the Rapper | Interlocutor | Museum of Contemporary Art & Pitchfork | 2018 Fireside Chat with Jamila Woods | In Sight Out with Pitchfork | 2021
Reflections on Covering the Death of Michael Jackson | NABJ-NAHJ Convention | 2010
Guest Host | WBEZ-FM (Chicago’s NPR station) | 2012 – Present
CNN Contributor | 2012-present
#ChangeTheNarrative | Habitat for Humanity Annual Fundraiser | 2016

Selected Work

As author, unless indicated otherwise.

‘A one-man economy’ who no one dared oppose: Working for Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs before the former billionaire’s arrest on sex-trafficking charges

Excerpt: “For the worldwide fans of hip-hop who made Combs a billionaire, these charges are mind-boggling. How could one of the most visible figures in the entertainment business have gotten away with this alleged behavior for so long? To find out, Fortune reached out to roughly 100 people who have worked with Combs at his many companies and organizations, many of them executives. Most declined to be interviewed or named in this story, with some citing concerns about professional retaliation or even physical injury. The dozen or so who did agree to talk did so mostly on condition of anonymity. (Two asked for money, and thus don’t appear in this piece.) Diddy’s former assistant Lewis-Rudden is one of only a handful of people willing to go on the record to talk about working with Combs.”

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Black Artists Reclaim Their Place in Country Culture

Everyone is discussing why or why not Black folks can be "country." But the truth is, Black folks have always been country, and are some of the earlier creators of the musical genre. This piece delves into the history of country music, the demographics of who lives in rural U.S. and how recent cultural shifts are impacting the nation's defintion of itself.

Chance the Rapper on the Chicago Ballot

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Here's How to Make Your Demands Heard For the 2025 Budget Season

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