Tracy Clayton

Tracy Clayton
Born (1982-04-29) April 29, 1982
EducationTransylvania University
OccupationsWriter, podcaster
EmployerNetflix
Known forAnother Round

Tracy Clayton (born April 29, 1982)[1] is an American writer who served as the co-host of the BuzzFeed podcast Another Round.[2][3] She hosted the Netflix podcast Strong Black Legends, for which she interviews African Americans in the entertainment industry about their craft.[4][5] Clayton and Josh Gwynn co-hosted the Pineapple Street Studios podcast Back Issue, which discusses moments in past popular culture and their impact on the present.[6]

Early life

Clayton was raised in Louisville, Kentucky,[7] and received her bachelor's degree from Transylvania University in Lexington.[8]

Career

Clayton has written for MadameNoire, Uptown, The Urban Daily, HuffPost, PostBourgie, and The Root, and worked at BuzzFeed full-time from 2014 to 2018.[9][10][11] She developed the popular Tumblr blog "Little Known Black History Facts", which featured on Another Round.[12]

She was named the Ida B. Wells Media Expert-in-Residence at Wake Forest University's Anna Julia Cooper Center from 2016 to 2017.[9]

Another Round

Clayton and her Buzzfeed co-worker Heben Nigatu launched the first episode of Another Round, produced by BuzzFeed, on March 24, 2015.[13] The show received positive critical acclaim. The A.V. Club described Clayton and Nigatu as "passionate and sharp in their distinct points of view."[14] It was named to best of 2015 lists by ITunes,[15] Slate,[16] Vulture,[17] and The Atlantic.[18]

An Okayplayer profile by Kevin L. Clark wrote: "Known all over the digital world as one of the sharpest voices in the podcast game as well as Black Twitter, Tracy Clayton is consistently one of the smartest people in whatever room she occupies."[19] Elle praised Clayton and Nigatu's ability to "serve up a blend of humor, politics, and frank observation that not even the most deft hosts can seem to replicate."[20] Fast Company named them two of the most creative businesspeople of 2016.[21] Clayton received media attention in the fall of 2015 when she pressed then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on the podcast about the crime bill her husband passed as president and its harmful impact on Black people.[20] The Guardian praised Clayton and Nigatu's work as "witty, irreverent, [and] intelligent."[22] Also writing for The Guardian, critic Sasha Frere-Jones called Clayton and Nigatu "leading American cultural critics."[23]

Clayton announced she had been laid off by BuzzFeed on September 19, 2018, along with most of the other staffers who had worked on BuzzFeed's original podcasts.[5]

Strong Black Legends

On February 11, 2019, Netflix's Strong Black Lead initiative announced it was launching a new podcast featuring interviews with well-known Black members of Hollywood, called Strong Black Legends, to be hosted by Clayton. The first podcast episode premiered on February 12, 2019, with Lynn Whitfield as the inaugural guest.[5] Strong Black Legends quickly rose to No. 1 on Apple's TV Film & Podcast chart and won a Webby Award in the category Podcasts - Television & Film in 2021.[24]

Back Issue

Clayton also hosted the interview podcast Going Through It launched by Mailchimp in July 2020, featuring 14 prominent Black women.[25]

In August 2020, Back Issue debuted, a podcast hosted by Clayton and Josh Gwynn. Back Issue was produced by Pineapple Street Studios and looked back at formative moments in popular culture. Clayton and Gwynn formerly worked together on Strong Black Legends.[26] Back Issue won Best Music Podcast at the Black Podcasting Awards in 2023.[27]

Recognition

She was named one of Fast Company's "Most Creative People in Business" in 2016,[21] The Root 100's "Most Influential African Americans" in 2016,[28] and Ebony's "Power 100 Disruptors" in 2017.[29]

References

  1. ↑ Tracy Clayton [@brokeymcpoverty] (29 April 2023). "GOOD MORNING ITS MY BIRTHDAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYY!!!!!!!!!! I MADE IT TO 41" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  2. ↑ Ifeanyi, KC (17 July 2017). "If You've Wondered Where Ideas Come From, This Short Is A Good Start". Fast Company. Archived from the original on 4 July 2022. Retrieved 18 July 2026.
  3. ↑ "Tracy Clayton Is Speaking Things Into Existence". WNYC. 11 January 2017. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
  4. ↑ Anderson, Tara (28 June 2016). "Interview: Buzzfeed's Tracy Clayton On Ali, Race And Louisville". Louisville, Kentucky: WFPL. Archived from the original on 13 August 2016. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 Osberg, Molly (26 September 2018). "Leaked Audio: BuzzFeed Executives Talk Diversity and Layoffs at Recent All-Hands Meeting". Splinter. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
  6. ↑ Betancourt, Bianca (9 September 2020). "'Back Issue' Podcast Revisits Black Culture's Most Defining Moments". Harper's BAZAAR. Retrieved 18 July 2026.
  7. ↑ Sonka, Joe (24 December 2013). "2013 People Issue: Tracy Clayton". LEO Weekly. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
  8. ↑ Burris, Sarah K. (28 April 2017). "Buzzfeed writer horrified to learn that Kentucky machete attacker was her online troll". Raw Story. Archived from the original on 7 June 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
  9. 1 2 Young, Yolanda (5 September 2016). "Another Round with Tracy Clayton, the writer, not the journalist". Rolling Out. Retrieved 18 July 2026.
  10. ↑ "Tracy Clayton". HuffPost. Retrieved 18 July 2026.
  11. ↑ Ransome, Noel (11 February 2019). "Tracy Clayton Is Very Excited About Returning to Podcasting, This Time for Netflix". VICE. Retrieved 18 July 2026.
  12. ↑ Ware, Kyle (23 April 2014). "Louisville's Tracy Clayton (aka Brokey McPoverty) heads off to BuzzFeed in NYC". Insider Louisville. Archived from the original on 9 April 2016.
  13. ↑ Nigatu, Heben; Clayton, Tracy (24 March 2015). "7 Things You Can Hear On The Debut Episode Of 'Another Round' Podcast". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved 18 July 2026.
  14. ↑ "Another Round and Internet Explorer confirm the power of BuzzFeed's podcasts". The A.V. Club. 15 June 2015. Archived from the original on 22 March 2016.
  15. ↑ Kelley, Seth (9 December 2015). "Apple's iTunes Best of 2015 list for podcasts includes a ton of LA-based favorites". Time Out Los Angeles. Archived from the original on 16 March 2016. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  16. ↑ Onion, Rebecca (14 December 2015). "The 10 Best Podcast Episodes of 2015". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Archived from the original on 22 March 2016. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  17. ↑ Quah, Nicholas (11 December 2015). "The 10 Best Podcasts and 10 Best Podcast Episodes of 2015". Vulture. Archived from the original on 25 March 2016. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  18. ↑ Standley, Laura Jane; Taylor, Devon; McQuade, Eric (22 December 2015). "The 50 Best Podcast Episodes of 2015". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 7 April 2017. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  19. ↑ Clark, Kevin L. (24 April 2016). "Faces of Black Twitter: Meet Tracy Clayton". Okayplayer. Archived from the original on 20 August 2016.
  20. 1 2 Kahn, Mattie (20 May 2016). "How the Internet Fell in Love with A Drunken, Animal-Filled, Radically Original Podcast". ELLE. Retrieved 18 July 2026.
  21. 1 2 "100 Most Creative People in Business 2016". Fast Company. Archived from the original on 7 October 2024. Retrieved 18 July 2026.
  22. ↑ Locker, Melissa (13 December 2015). "Listen To This: Another Round podcast changes the world one drink at a time". The Guardian. UK. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 4 January 2017. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  23. ↑ Frere-Jones, Sasha (25 June 2016). "'We love you Beyoncé': what Queen Bey means to her fans now". The Guardian. UK. Archived from the original on 20 September 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  24. ↑ Gaillot, Ann-Derrick (21 February 2019). "Another Round's Tracy Clayton Is Back to Podcasting". The Cut. Retrieved 18 July 2026.
  25. ↑ Stidhum, Tonja Renée (13 July 2020). "Exclusive: Tracy Clayton Is the New Host of Podcast Going Through It; Guests Include Tamron Hall, Ilhan Omar, Mara Brock Akil and More". The Root. Archived from the original on 16 November 2020.
  26. ↑ Garcia, Sandra E. (24 September 2020). "The Hosts of 'Back Issue' Want to Throw It Back". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 6 November 2020. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
  27. ↑ "Our Best Culture Podcast Award Winners". Black Podcasting Awards. Retrieved 18 July 2026.
  28. ↑ "The Root 100 Most Influential African Americans 2016". The Root. 27 September 2016. Archived from the original on 28 September 2016.
  29. ↑ "EBONY Power 100 2017 - Honorees". EBONY Power 100. Retrieved 18 July 2026.
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