On Saturday, October 3, 2026, Creative Repute founder and CEO Nile Livingston will join the “Careers Beyond the Newsroom” panel at the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists’ 2nd Annual Emerging Media Diversity Convention.
The panel will explore how journalists and media professionals can apply their storytelling and reporting skills beyond traditional media organizations.
For Livingston, the subject reflects a career built across several creative disciplines.
From Visual Artist to Agency Founder
Livingston is a Philadelphia-based visual artist, designer, creative director, and entrepreneur. They founded Creative Repute in 2017 and have since built the company into a multidisciplinary creative agency.
Creative Repute works across branding, graphic design, web design and development, video, marketing, public relations, and digital strategy. The agency works with businesses, nonprofits, government agencies, artists, and community organizations.
Livingston also maintains an independent visual art practice through Nile Livingston, LLC.
Their work shows how storytelling can move between formats. A mural communicates through public space. A brand identity gives an organization a visual language. A website organizes information for an audience. Video combines narrative, sound, and image. Marketing determines how those stories reach people.
Four Perspectives on Life Beyond the Newsroom
Livingston will be joined by three panelists whose careers demonstrate different applications of media experience.
Kalia Nicole Baker is an Emmy Award-winning journalist and Director of Communications for the Philadelphia City Commissioners. Her background includes more than 13 years in broadcast journalism and multiplatform storytelling. Baker was also named PABJ’s 2026 Emerging Media Professional of the Year.
William Griggs IV is the founder of IV Creative Concepts, a Philadelphia video production company. Before building his company, Griggs worked in television and production, including roles with NBC Sports Philadelphia, ESPN, BET, and Viacom.
Gregory Wright is the owner and lead photographer of Wright Eye Visuals LLC. His work brings photography and independent visual storytelling to the panel.
Kyron Ryals, Chief Creative Officer of DVS&Co., will moderate the conversation. Ryals works across film, photography, design, digital media, and creative strategy. His work also includes mentorship and professional development for emerging creatives.
Together, the group represents careers in journalism, communications, photography, video production, design, and entrepreneurship.
Storytelling Skills Travel
The skills developed in journalism and media have applications well beyond a newsroom.
Interviewing is useful in research and client discovery. Writing supports communications and marketing. Reporting teaches people how to organize complex information. Production experience can lead to independent video and photography work. Audience awareness matters in branding, digital strategy, and public communications.
Livingston’s career has required many of those same skills across different mediums.
The panel gives emerging professionals a chance to hear how four Philadelphia creatives have turned storytelling skills into different careers and businesses.
About the Emerging Media Diversity Convention
The 2026 Emerging Media Diversity Convention is presented by the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists and is designed to train, mentor, and connect diverse journalists and media professionals.
Ernest Owens, an award-winning journalist, author, professor, and president of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists, is among the leaders behind the convention. Owens has used his role with PABJ to create professional development and networking opportunities for Philadelphia’s emerging journalists and media professionals. He will also participate in the convention’s opening fireside career chat on Saturday.
The convention begins Friday, October 2, with an evening reception. Programming continues Saturday, October 3, with workshops, a fireside chat, networking, and a media job fair and career expo. Saturday programming runs from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Community College of Philadelphia.
“Careers Beyond the Newsroom” takes place during the Journalism/Media Creative Track.
Careers Beyond the Newsroom
Saturday, October 3, 2026
11 a.m.–12 p.m.
Community College of Philadelphia
Winnet Student Life Building
502 N. 17th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19130
Moderator: Kyron Ryals
Panelists: Nile Livingston, Kalia Nicole Baker, William Griggs IV, and Gregory Wright