Jenna Wortham Writes About Emerging Pop Culture

Photo by: Marily Konstantinopoulou, Jenna_Wortham_ArtAndFeminism_2016_MoMA.tif on Wikimedia Commons 

By Mei Xu

You might have seen Jenna Wortham’s name pop up while reading The New York Times, or perhaps you know her from the podcast Still Processing which she co-hosts with Wesley Morris. Like any other reporter, she writes and focuses on a range of topics, but what sets her apart from many other reporters is her outlook as a woman of color on social issues and new pop culture.

Wortham first interned and worked in San Francisco based news papers, including the San Francisco Magazine, Girlfriend Magazine and SF List. When she moved to write for the Times in 2014, Politico described her as “[giving] the magazine additional editorial firepower and cachet," noting Wortham's following of more than 530,000 followers on Twitter at the end of 2014.

Now, Wortham who goes by @JennyDeluxe on her social media presence has 754,000 followers on Twitter and 31,500 followers on Instagram. She uses her personal platforms to speak about her ideas and share to a smaller, personal audience on her struggles, body image, and being an African American woman.

Wortham’s huge following on social media and her platform at the Times gives her lots of power to also be an influencer to a larger audience. Wortham’s name is often found attached to various articles discussing pop culture, women’s rights, LGBTQ+ movements, and the African-American community. Through the Still Processing podcast, she continues to expand on these topics, talking about influential movies, singers, the MeToo Movement and events that inspire and push towards equality and self-love.