The happy Black man above is me, Rae! My little brother once referred to me as a "walking bag of controversy," and I vividly recall my father telling me as a teenager, "You are the strangest man I've ever met." And no, he was not complimenting me. Others have described me as "loud," "crazy," "outspoken," and a slew of other adjectives that may or may not be accurate. I'll let you decide! If you were to ask me to describe myself, I'd tell you that at my core I’m simply a storyteller, a writer, and a thinker. My aptitude for utilizing both written and oral (get your mind out the gutter) communication to creatively craft compelling narratives has been one of my most enduring and defining qualities.   

         My YouTube channel, What Rae Gotta Say, provides critical commentary on a bevy of relevant sociocultural, sociopolitical, and pop culture phenomena to glean insights into how these forces converge to shape our collective reality and individual realities in the Western world. What Rae Gotta Say presents dynamic video essays deconstructing media, society, and culture with rigor, candor, and of course, riotous fun. I'm not at all interested in using my platform to tell folks what to do, how to live, and what to think. I am, however, committed to encouraging people to think critically about the media, historical contexts, and historical legacies that influence our beliefs, values, traditions, and social norms.

        I developed What Rae Gotta Say to not only accommodate the fiery opinions I hold about various headline-grabbing news items and other controversial current events impacting society, but to merge my diverse content creation capabilities. What Rae Gotta Say is where I harness my creative talents and all the professional skills in my arsenal to produce video essays that stimulate honest, but humorous, discourse centering on the most rousing sociocultural, sociopolitical, and pop culture issues.          

         I've been (un)fortunate enough to acquire two degrees that have done nothing but bless me with soul-crushing student loan debt. One of them is an MA in Communication with a concentration in Public and Media Relations from Johns Hopkins University. The other is a BS in Mass Communication with a focus in Journalism from Towson University. During my undergraduate and postgraduate education, I cultivated the ability to design salient, high-quality visual media products, implement target audience-focused social media strategy, and masterfully leverage a multitude of journalistic narrative formats. I’ve composed an array of pieces related to mental health, property preservation, arts & culture, and more. My writings have been featured in Baltimore magazine, on Baltimore Weddings’ 'Hitched' blog, and The Baltimore Watchdog.

         Don’t stop reading yet! I’m almost done. I just want to mention once upon a time, I graduated from the esteemed Baltimore School for the Arts, where I majored in acting. At BSA, I learned dramatic storytelling methodologies and invaluable vocal performance techniques that have contributed to me being the engaging, unflappable public speaker I am today.

         Thank you so much for being here. I love you, and I deeply appreciate you! But I gotta ask, did you subscribe to What Rae Gotta Say on YouTube yet?