Welcome
Award-winning Writer, Entrepreneur, Content Creator & Influencer
Multi-hyphenate - a person with several professions or skills.
Translation: Don't put a ceiling on my capabilities.
Twenty-three years of connecting the classroom to the commun
A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle. - Khalil Gibran
Producer, Line producer and BTS Producer
Brainwashed - line producer
https://www.brainwashedmovie.com/
Shaft - BTS Producer
https://vimeo.com/322096327
Little - BTS Producer
About Me
Bio
Global entrepreneurial leader and ecosystem builder.
(The recently appointed inaugural Southern Regional Director, Dr. Burton attends the HUxPNC National Conference on Entrepreneurship, June 2023; She works with HBCUs in GA, FL, AL and the Virgin Islands to strengthen their entrepreneurial ecosystems.)
My Recent Academic Publications
Black Women’s Mental Health: Balancing Strength and Vulnerability (anthology), Eds. Stephanie Y. Evans, Kanika Bell Lewis and Nsenga K. Burton, SUNY Press, 2017 (Hardcopy; Soft copy released in 2018). In addition to serving as an editor, I have contributed a chapter on the representation of black women’s mental health in Being Mary Jane. (Editor and contributor – In addition to co-editing responsibilities, I wrote a chapter on The Representation of Black Women’s Mental Illness in HTGAWM and Being Mary Jane)
“Mad Men: Draper, Double Consciousness and The Invisibility of Blackness,” Mad Men (anthology) Eds. Ann Duncan and Jacob Goodson, Cascade Press, 2016. (Book chapter)
”Bert Williams: Lime Kiln Club Field Day.” Article written for the 20thAnniversary of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival 2015.
“South African Soap Operas: A Rainbow Nation Realized?” appears in the anthology, Watching While Black: Centering the Television of Black Audiences. Rutgers: Rutgers University Press, 2013. Winner: 2013 Choice Outstanding Academic Title Award.
My Recent Media Appearances
The Dr. Phil Show
The Burton Wire - NNPA Black Press USA Livestream
Discussion with filmmaker Booker T. Matthison about his latest film, The Sound of Christmas.
WABE 90.1 FM (NPR) - Closer Look With Rose Scott
After Days of Intense Protests, What's Next for Atlanta
AfroComicCon Livestream
Discussion on the Rise of AfroFuturism in Television and Film
Rolling Out Magazine
A Seat at Table: Black Filmmakers and Hollywood
WABE 90.1 FM - Lois Reitzes Show
My Public Intellectual/Influencer Work
Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D. (she/her) is an award-winning entrepreneur, writer and media influencer. She is founder and editor in-chief of the award-winning news site The Burton Wire, which covers news of the African Diaspora. An expert on the intersection of race, class, gender and sexuality with film, media and technological industries, the thought leader has contributed to CNN, Huffington Post, The Grio, The New York Times and USA Today. She currently serves as editor-at-large for Black Press USA’s News Wire. Nsenga is a former editor-at-large for The Root, inaugural editor-in-chief for HealthPlus digital magazine powered by the Atlanta Voice and cultural critic for Creative Loafing. Dr. Burton’s writings appear in more than 200 print papers weekly reaching 22 million readers per week and more than 3 million people online daily.
Nsenga also has a long career in film and new media production. In 2019, she served as a behind-the-scenes (BTS) producer on the major motion pictures Shaft and Little. In 2022, she contributed to a short film entitled, “Flash Here and There Falling Stars: The Life and Work of Pellom McDaniels, III” and in 2022, served as a line producer on Brainwashed, a documentary about sexism in Hollywood, which recently received a theatrical release (2023).
In addition to continuing to work in film, Dr. Burton has over 20 years of experience as a college professor and has written numerous academic articles on the topic of race, gender, sexuality and media. Nsenga has written on South African Soap Operas, race and the character of Don Draper in AMC’s “Mad Men,” among other topics.
She has served as chair of Communication Arts at Johnson C. Smith University, Chair of the Department of Communication and Media Studies at Goucher College and Interim Chair of Mass Media Arts at Clark Atlanta University.
Most recently, Dr. Burton co-edited a book on Black Women’s Mental Health: Balancing Strength and Vulnerability, where in addition to editing responsibilities, she contributed a chapter, “Representation of Black Women’s Mental Health in Being Mary Jane and How to Get Away With Murder,” for SUNY Press. A passion project, Nsenga has presented on this topic and the book, which is the only edited volume of its kind, at numerous conferences. Nsenga is the former Co-Director of Film and Media Management in the Department of Film and Media at Emory University and Director of Grady Newsource Digital at the University of Georgia.
A serial entrepreneur, Dr. Burton currently serves as Southern Regional Director of Howard University-PNC Bank’s National Center for Entrepreneurship where she works with HBCUs in Florida, Georgia, Alabama and the Virgin Islands to strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Dr. Burton is a well-known commentator on radio, TV, and new media having recently appeared on WABE 90.1 FM (NPR)to discuss entrepreneurship, film icons Sidney Poitier, Cicely Tyson, protest films, The Little Mermaid controversy and teaching race in college classrooms. Nsenga was also featured on The Dr. Phil Show discussing the “Karen Phenomenon,” and CourtTV to address racism and media coverage during the 25th anniversary of the O.J. Simpson trial.
Dr. Burton contributes regularly to NNPA Black Press USA Newswire and hosts a livestream interviewing subjects about entertainment, media and HBCU related topics. Dr. Burton was recently featured in Deborah Riley Draper’s award-winning documentary Twenty Pearls, which explored the history of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, the nation’s first sorority founded by and for Black college women.
Nsenga's civic contributions mirror her professional accomplishments. She is immediate past chair of the Black Caucus of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies and the Atlanta Youth Commission. She is a member of the National Communication Association, American Studies Association, NAACP Image Awards Nominating Committee, Women in Film and Television Atlanta, Atlanta Film Critics Circle, Northwestern University’s Council of 100, National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), Jack and Jill of America, Inc. (Greater Metropolitan Atlanta Chapter) and a life member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. She is also a member of the Camellia Rose Chapter of The Links, Incorporated.
The former Executive Director of the National Association of Multicultural Digital Entrepreneurs, Nsenga was awarded the NABJ Entrepreneur of the Year Award (2013), News One’s Top Black News Site (2015) and is the recipient of the Scripps-Howard Fellowship at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University. In 2023, she received the UnSung Heroine award from the National Coalition of 100 Black Women for her community service. She was recently selected for the National Leadership Academy for the Links Incorporated, where she has served as a member of the National Communications Committee. Nsenga was recently certified as a Small Business Health Advisor during the recent pandemic and partnered with TheTrtuthCheck.org to help with media literacy around the Covid-19 vaccination.
Dr. Burton holds degrees from Northwestern University (B.S. Radio/TV/Film Production), New York University (M.A. Cinema Studies), University of Pennsylvania (M.A. Communication) and the University of Southern California (Ph.D. Critical Studies in Film and TV). A Virginia native, Nsenga currently resides in Atlanta with her daughter Kai and fur sons Mr. Miyagi and Mr. Surprise.
Follow Nsenga on Twitter or Instagram @Ntellectual.
The Burton Wire - Founder & Editor-in-Chief
HealthPlusMagazine - March/April
HealthPlusMagazine - January/February
HealthPlusMagazine - Maternal Mortality Issue
NNPA Black Press USA - Entertainment and Culture Editor
CNN: "What the Calls to Boycott 'The Woman King' Are Really Saying" Op-Ed)
USA Today Women of the Century Project
Huffington Post - Columnist/Contributor