On this edition of In Black America, producer/host John L. Hanson Jr. speaks with Sheila Brooks, founder, president and CEO of SRB Communications. Brooks is an Emmy Award-winning journalist, entrepreneur and dedicated advocate for minority and women’s issues and small businesses.
SRB Communications is a full-service strategic communications agency and post-production facility located Washington, D.C. The company helps clients develop their brand, positioning and strategies in creative campaigns through integrated media formats in broadcast, print and multimedia. Brooks is an expert in entrepreneurial education and minority business issues.
Prior to starting her firm in 1990, Brooks built a distinguished television career as a news director, reporter, anchor and documentary producer at TV stations across the country that were owned, operated or affiliated with CBS, NBC, PBS and Fox. During her more than 34 years in the television and communications industry, Brooks has won several awards, including 42 national Telly Awards; a national Gracie Award from American Women in Radio and Television; induction into the NATAS Silver Circle, the Emmy Award Hall of Fame by the National Capital/Chesapeake Bay Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences; two local Emmy Awards; and four local Emmy Nominations.
Previously, Brooks served on the Comptroller’s Minority Business Advisory Panel that makes recommendations to the Board of Public Works for improving contracting opportunities in the state of Maryland. She also is a member of the “brain trust” representing national entrepreneurial organizations that meet regularly with The White House, and the SBA’s leadership to develop political strategy and legislative policy recommendations on small business issues.
Brooks earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications, with a major in broadcast journalism from the University of Washington in Seattle, and a Master of Arts degree in political science from Howard University. She is pursuing a Ph.D. in Mass Communication and Media Studies at Howard University.
