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Twenty-one
years ago, when Matthew Scott purchased his first subscription
to Black Enterprise, he never dreamed heíd be where
he is today- the personal finance editor for the magazine.
After
graduating from Edward R. Murrow High School, this native
of Crown Heights, Brooklyn went on to earn a B.A. in Journalism
and English Literature from Rutgers University in 1983.
" I was sick and tired of hearing that black people
had nothing," Scott said when asked why he wanted to
be a journalist. "I saw journalists as people who actually
tell the truth."
Scott first read Black Enterprise during his freshman year
in college. In it, he finally found an outlet for him to
write about his favorite topics. "Everything revolves
around money," he said.After college, Scott wrote for
a weekly community newspaper called Big Red News. "Big
Red gave me the opportunity to go out and report on stories,"
he said. He left the publication in 1985 and worked as a
substitute English teacher at various junior high schools
in New York City for three years. ìAt the time I
couldnít find a journalism job,î he recalled.
"You have to have more than one option in your career.
My skill is writing or teaching other people to write."
In 1989, he stopped teaching to focus more on his writing
and soon took the position of Director of Communications
at the National Bar Association, the countryís largest
organization of African American lawyers. There he was responsible
for coordinating the organizationís public relations
effort and news coverage of its annual conventions, as well
as managing the production of the NBA Magazine. "It
gave me the opportunity to be a journalists on a regular
basis," he said.
Scott
arrived at Black Enterprise in 1990. He started out, as
news editor then became technology editor, then a senior
writer, a senior editor, and finally managing editor.
Scott left Black Enterprise to launch a business magazine,
New Vision in Business, where he served as Editor-In-Chief.
The magazine targets urban professionals between the ages
of 24 and 40 about personal finance and other money matters.
Scott left the publication after two years and returned
to Black Enterprise as its Personal Finance Editor.
Scott
has received several journalism awards that exhibit his
talent in writing. He has received a number of Unity Awards
in media in categories such as business, politics, as well
as technology. Scott has also won a Fellow Award for editorial
excellence in 1997 as the managing editor at Black Enterprise
and in the consumer business category in 2003.
Scotts job at Black Enterprise encompasses so much like
being responsible for 12 to 20 editorial pages a month for
the magazine, traveling around the country making lectures
about personal finance, talking on Black Enterpriseís
television show and radio show.
Outside
of Black Enterprise he is also President of the New York
City chapter of the New York Association of Black Journalists,
which he joined after graduating from Rutgers.
" It ís extremely important right now that young
people understand the power of journalism, "Scott said.
"If we do not have a vehicle to communicate our values
as a people in terms of whatís really important to
us, then we donít have a voice in this country ".
" We need journalists to bring African Americans information
that we may not normally get. Right now we don't have many
vehicles to deliver information to our people [African Americans].
Itís more important than ever for African Americans
to become journalists to deliver our people from poverty
and ignorance. A people with no voice cannot remain free.
If we donít speak for ourselves no one in this country
will. "
In
August of 2005 Black Enterprise will celebrate its 35th
anniversary. " Black Enterprise will continue to bring
the message of building wealth to our readers," Scott
remarked. " We're going to continue to improve our
television show, The Black Enterprise Report, reach more
readers and entrepreneurs, and just continue to do more
groundbreaking stories".
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