25th July, 2020
By Taiwo Okanlawon
Ronnia “Nia” Cherry, an international journalist with over a decade of media arts experience, has been announced as the first editor-in-chief of Lambo Xtra, an online magazine based in Lagos, Nigeria.
This was disclosed to pressmen by Soltesh Iyere, the chief executive officer of theMedia 360, the parent company of Lambo Xtra.
“Nia” Cherry, who has served as editor of 7AM Magazine, and has contributed to publications such as DJBooth, LargeUp and The Mercury Times, will take the helm of Lambo Xtra effective July 16, Soltesh said.
Nia will also join a newly formed Board of Advisors, alongside Iyere, Media 360 co-founder and a selected group of African advisors who are yet to be named. This is in addition to the existing team of in-house and freelance writers, creators and contributors pushing Lambo Xtra forward daily.
Nia comes to Lambo Xtra with a Bachelor of Art degree in Advertising & Design and over a decade of experience working with companies such as REVOLT, Red Stripe, Honda, Black Tech Week, Social Media Week and A3C.
She was also the Creative Director of New Culture Society in Los Angeles, where she produced editorials with Issa Rae, Common, and more.
Her journalistic career includes interviews, premieres, editorials, and op-eds with a focus on African and Caribbean music, culture, creativity and identity with bylines on DJ Booth and LargeUp that feature Kanye West, Burna Boy, Koffee, Mr. Eazi, Tiwa Savage, Popcaan, Spice, Jo Mersa Marley, Bankulli and more.
Nia also co-curated TIDAL Rising’s Reggae & Dancehall and Apple Music’s Now Things playlists, and is set to release the official Lambo Musik playlist this week.
“I’m a fan of Lambo and Afropop in general, so I am honored to join this talented group of African creatives, at a time when African music is on a historical rise,” Nia said.
“We connected on Twitter and realised we shared the same vision and same vibes and it’s just been a blessing ever since. I’m excited to build and the stories we have shared together have already gotten a good response so I’m happy.”
She is also excited to work with more African journalists and bringing more pan-African and Caribbean content to the platform.
Nia is proud to have been mentored by some of the industry’s best, including Eric Osiakwan, Ghanaian angel investor and author of The KINGS of Africa’s Digital Economy, and Joey Akan, an acclaimed Nigerian journalist and founder of Afrobeats Intelligence.
A native of New York, Nia earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at The Art Institute of Atlanta and studied Contract Law and Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies at Harvard. She began her journalism career as a teenager forming her own zine and building websites.
Taking a break from journalism, she founded a media arts and music collective, WAKEUPSTAR, opening creative studios and galleries in Los Angeles and Miami’s Wynwood Art District before relocating to Kingston, Jamaica. She went on to write features for LargeUp, before becoming a regular contributor at DJ Booth.
During her time in Jamaica, she also published FLOURISH: a practical guide for the creative soul, followed by Never Fear. Love, Always, a collection of essays. This also inspired her to launch an online platform for African & Caribbean creatives called 7AM, which provides a launchpad for young Caribbean writers, photographers & curators.
Nia joins Lambo Xtra during a time when many are faced with challenges on how to monetize digital content, however, she is confident in the shared vision held by theMedia 360 and WAKEUPSTAR* to become the loudest and most notable voice in Afro-pop and to foster the growth and rise of African music around the world through God and media.