Reporting the Global Black Experience with Grantee Erica Ayisi

How is Black culture created and experienced across different regions of the world? For the last decade, grantee Erica Ayisi has covered food, fashion, art, and politics, providing a window into the global Black experience in Africa and beyond. At this event, she will share insights from the stories and documentaries that have defined her career so far.

This is a hybrid event. You are invited to join in-person at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Science Hall, room #140, on April 20, 2023. If you are unable to join in-person, you will see a Zoom link for the event on Eventbrite on April 20.

Ayisi is a freelance multimedia journalist focusing on human feature stories and documentaries around the world. Her work has appeared in numerous digital outlets, including NBCNews.com, The Root, Essence.com, Afroelle Magazine, and xoNecole.

Her work includes digital content pertaining to the African diaspora, including reporting on the surfing community in Ghana, Black atheism in London, natural beauty remedies with Rastafarian women in Jamaica, the legacy of activist Recy Taylor, the opening of the Juices for Life juice bar in Brooklyn, as well as several other long-form articles capturing the global Black experience.

Ayisi is a two-time Pulitzer Center grantee. Her Center-supported investigative project Swallowed by Sea, published in Mongabay in 2022, explores the devastating effects of coastal erosion in Ghana. 

In 2019, with the Pulitzer Center’s support, Ayisi's project If This Hair Could Talk examined how women in some of the most impoverished areas of Cambodia sell their hair as a means of survival. The report appeared on NBC News.

​Her passion for telling international stories has earned her a Distinguished Alumni & Friends of the Worcester Public Schools Achievement Award and a Ceremonial Key to the City of Worcester, Massachusetts. In addition, in 2021, she was awarded the National Association of Black Journalists' Ethel Payne Fellowship.

A graduate of the New York Institute of Technology, she holds a master's and bachelor's degrees in communication arts with a focus on broadcast journalism. She also teaches digital media and journalism production classes for high school and middle school students outside Boston.

Ayisi is founder and chief executive officer of Akosua’s Closet, an African-sourced online boutique shop featuring women’s clothing, jewelry, and home decor curated by Ayisi.

If you have questions about the event featuring Ayisi, contact [email protected].

This event is co-sponsored by the African Studies Program, African Cultural Studies, and African American Studies at UW-Madison.