Kynala Phillips is currently a junior and First Wave scholar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. As a Madison-native, she has spent much of her academic career trying to hone in on her writing skills in various mediums. She was introduced to journalism byway of poetry and storytelling. Outside of class, she is the editorial assistant and a reporter for Madison365.com, a publication dedicated to keeping Madison's communities of color informed. Phillips is also the publicist for the Wisconsin Black Student Union, an organization that fosters a conducive environment for the academic and extracurricular pursuits of Black Badgers on UW-Madison's campus. After undergrad, Phillips is interested in researching the relationship between identity politics and media. She is always looking for opportunities to better understand how information informs our lives and external/internal perceptions of our identities and how language can play a role in that. When she is not working to perfect her passions and skills, Phillips enjoys working with Madison's youth as well as singing and dancing. She also produces and sells her own brand of whipped shea butter products, called Shea Bae, with her partner Austin Gladden To read some of her work click here and here!