Media-Revolutionista! Milton Allimadi
Meet Milton Allimadi, Media Revolutionista!
Milton Allimadi owner Black Star News
Favorite Color: Black
Favorite Book: The Black Jacobins, by C.L.R. James
Favorite Movie: The Shawshank Redemption
Favorite Newspapers: The Black Star News and The Wall Street Journal
Favorite Quote: All Men Are Created Equal
Favorite Word: Please
Favorite Smell: Rose
Favorite restaurant in Harlem and dish: Mo Bay Restaurant (Oxtail with rice and peas)
Favorite place to hangout in Harlem: My Home or Settepani Restaurant
Favorite thing to do in Harlem?: Walk along 125th Street
What do you love about Harlem?: It’s the Black cultural capital…..The Schomburg Center, The Studio Museum of Harlem, The Abyssinian Baptist Church, 125th Street….Black people
Why did you choose to live in Harlem?: Harlem is reflective of my character and the character of my newspaper, The Black Star News and my magazine Harlem Business News. Very Pan African and very Global.
MW: Tell me a little about yourself?
MA: I love writing and news and I love reading books and story telling. I am an eternal optimist and believe that tomorrow is always a better day and that’s what keeps me going.
MW: And your background and education?
MA: I was born in Uganda. My father was a diplomat, ambassador to Washington, so I actually started grade school in the US. I then grew up in Uganda and Tanzania and came back to the
US to go to college. I went to Syracuse where I studied economics. I later went back to school, the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia where I studied print journalism. I then worked at The Journal of Commerce, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. My favorite years in journalism, before The Black Star News was with The City Sun, a Black-oriented weekly newspaper in Brooklyn. When The City Sun folded, I drew up a business plan and sent it out to more than 50 wealthy Black folk. Many of them wrote back and said it was a great plan and ‘good luck.’ Fortunately, one couple sent me an envelope with a check. It was Camille and Bill Cosby–that’s how I launched The Black Star News in 1997.
MW: How long have you been living in Harlem?
MA: Apart from when I started school in Washington, D.C., I came back in 1980 and have been living here since then.
MW: How has your education and or work experience prepared you for being a publisher?
MA: I think the fact that I studied so many subjects gave me knowledge and interest in many different subjects; that’s the best preparation for publishing. I studied economics, history and political science in College before journalism. I also read newspapers and magazines from all over the world.
MW: How is the publishing business different here in this country from your native country?
MA: It’s very difficult to raise money for a new enterprise even here in the United Stats; in developing countries it’s almost impossible. Also, press freedom is lax in developing countries and often does not even exist, meaning journalists can be targeted for arrest or even killed.
MW: What is BSN? What is your mission? What are you trying to accomplish with BSN?
MA: The Black Star News offers a Pan African perspective —- a Black perspective to news and information. Often, so-called mainstream media do not have their priorities right when it comes to news that affects people of African ancestry. The Black Star News is our way of trying to level the playing field somewhat.
MW: Explain the name?
MA: It is a salute to the legacy and memory of Marcus Garvey; he was the greatest Pan African in history and inspired other great Pan Africans like Kwame Nkrumah
MW: How long has the paper been in business?
MA: Since 1997 and our website since 1999.
MW: Tell me about the genesis of the idea of BSN?
MA: After The City Sun went out of business I had decided that I was not going to return to the so-called mainstream media. I drew up a business plan the minute we were forced out of The City Sun’s offices by creditors.
MW: How did it come into being?
MA: I just drew up the business plan and started pitching it to potential investors.
MW: What was the biggest stumbling block you faced during this process?
MA: It’s a stumbling block we still have; the challenge of capital.
MW: The most pleasurable surprise you faced during the process?
MA: Not really a surprise, I always knew that if you have a good plan and that if you’re persistent, eventually your vision will be rewarded.
MW: What do you enjoy most about what you do?
MA: That I can actually make a living from doing the things I love the most — reading, writing, and delivering information.
MW: What do you consider the single most important achievement your newspaper has accomplished in today’s marketplace? In the lives of your readers?
MA: We have broken several major stories and exposed corruption and provided a forum that many African American readers would not have to tell their stories. One of the major stories we broke was in 2000 and involved corruption at Morgan Stanley, the giant investment bank. After that I was interviewed on CNN, and there were write ups about The Black Star News in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times magazine, The Daily News, The New York Post, Newsweek, Brill’s Content Magazine, and The New York Observer.
MW: The biggest challenge today?
MA: Raising more capital so we can promote the paper and increase staffing.
MW: If you had magical powers and could make BSN a human being, describe that human being….
MA: Milton Allimadi; compassionate and dedicated to justice.
MW: Finish this sentence: in 2013 BSN will be ……
MA: A major daily newspaper in addition to the leading African American website.
MW: What do you think of the future of publishing?
MA: It will be online and on other multi-media outlets. But decent print publications, maybe mostly magazines, will still exist. Very few newsprint newspapers if at all….
MW: How does BSN help the Harlem community?
MA: By letting Harlemites know that they have their own newspaper. And the sister publication Harlem Business News chronicles the story of Harlem’s businesses.
MW: What do you think of Barack Obama as the new President of the USA?
MA: In addition to being the first Black president, and showing all young Black folk that anything is attainable, he’s also the smartest and most competent of all the candidates that he ran against.
MW: What do you like doing in your free time?
MA: Watching CNN, and MSNBC and shows like Meet The Press, and Like It Is, or just going to a Barnes and Noble and reading a good book.
MW: What book are you reading now?
MA: The World Is Flat, by Thomas L. Friedman
MW: Do you have a favorite personal quote?
MA: “Nothing Is Impossible.”
MW: What are your beliefs about life in one sentence?
MA: “We Must All Make The World A Better Place For Our Children.”
MW: What major mistake from your past you do not regret?
MA: I have no regrets; everything is a learning experience. Yet, my mother passed away from cancer last year and I miss her tremendously. I showed her much love but I don’t think I ever really told her I loved her. Also maybe I should have visited her more in London.
MW: What do you know for sure about life?
MA: Life is short; try to enjoy the company of all the people you love whenever you can.
MW: What do you consider your single most important personal achievement?
MA: Founding The Black Star News.
MW: Who do you admire most? Why?
MA: President Elect Barack Obama. He had a vision and then he devised a plan to bring that vision to fruition.
MW: Who is the biggest influence in your career?
MA: My father, now deceased, had great confidence in me and always told me I was a genius. In publishing, Andrew Cooper and the late publisher of The City Sun, was my mentor.
MW: What is your business philosophy?
MA: Focus on the things you know. I know media that’s why I’m in publishing.
MW: You have had a unique path through your career, what is the most important lesson you learned along this path?
MA: That if you want something very important done, if it’s a life and death type situation, make sure you do it yourself.
MW: What’s most important to you in life?
MA: The love of great friends and family.
MW: What’s the best feeling?
MA: When I know we are publishing a great story; an exclusive.
MW: The worst?
MA: People sometimes criticize me for not panicking. My thing is why stress over things you can’t control?
MW: How do you fuel your fire?
MA: The memory of mother, Alice Allimadi. Wanted to always do her proud and still do even though she’s no longer in this world.
MW: If you could meet one person dead or alive who would it be? Why?
MA: President Elect Barack Obama and Nelson Mandela. They both had dreams and convictions and both were vindicated.
MW: What’s your greatest asset?
MA: Patience.
MW: If you could live your life over what is one thing you would change?
MA: Not a single thing apart from spending more time with my late mother.
MW: What projects are you currently working on?
MA: I wrote 1 book: The Hearts of Darkness, How White Writers Created The Racist Image of Africa.
Additionally, I launched Harlem Business News in 2006 after I saw that businesses were moving aggressively into Harlem. With the new developments and modernization, we also wanted to examine how large businesses would be able to co-exist with traditional mom-and-pop establishments; whether a mutually beneficial relationship could evolve where the powerful corporations would also see the need for supporting African American enterprises. So far, with the increase in rents, the future seems dire for small businesses.
www.blackstarnews.com