Kuba Shand-Baptiste is a commissioning editor and columnist on The Independent's Voices desk. She typically covers news, politics, pop culture and social justice, and has written for the website since 2016. Kuba has also been a part of gal-dem, a publication run by women and non-binary people of colour, since 2015. She has also served as the publication's chief sub-editor for the past two years.
Prior to joining The Independent, Kuba worked at The Pool, where she wrote a number of feature articles, conducted interviews and reported on the news. Before that, Kuba was an editorial assistant at The Financial Times' Money Management Magazine where she wrote news and feature articles on personal finance.
Kuba's writing, particularly around race and migration has been featured and referenced in books including: The Pool's "Life Honestly" and Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff's "Mother Country.
She has written feature, news and opinion articles for The Guardian, Black Ballad, The Metro, VICE, SELF.COM, gal-dem, Stylist, Ladybeard, Dazed, the FT Adviser and more.
Aside from writing, Kuba has made a number of appearances on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour, as well as a BBC Radio 4 documentary on black beauty standards. She has been in a Guardian documentary on eating disorders, and has been featured on a number of industry panels.
In 2018, Kuba both hosted the New Girl Media panel at the 2018 BFI Woman With A Movie Camera Summit, and later, led a week-long journalism course for teenagers with the BFI and gal-dem.
Projects credited in
- THE 2021 I LIKE NETWORKING MENTORING SCHEMEI LIKE NETWORKING is a platform that aims to support women and non-binary professionals looking for a career in the creative and cultural industry and those who already work in the field but feel stuck. The mentoring programme is international, which reflects the global creative sector. Mentees will be paired with a mentor for 4 meetings, over a 3-month period. In collaboration with their mentor, mentees will define their goals, finesse their skill set, and refine their CV. Additionally, ment
- This International Women’s Day 2019, meet 100 trailblazers redefining the creative industryDiscover our 2020 list here This International Women’s Day, we’ve launched our latest ‘10x10’ – asking 10 influential industry icons to each nominate 10 trailblazing women and non-binary people who they believe are redefining the creator landscape. The result? An incredible list of 100 trailblazers inspiring change. Our list will be accompanied by a takeover on The Dots – look out for brilliant profiles and projects on the platform as we aim to inspire, as important as ever when considering ‘88165
- gal-dem Guardian takeover proves diversity breeds creativityThe gal-dem team talk over their plans with staff from the Guardian Weekend magazine. Photograph: Shaista Chishty for the Guardian 1. The Guardian Article Liv Little and Melissa Denes Sat 18 Aug 2018, published on The Guardian Working with the Guardian on gal-dem’s takeover of Weekend magazine was an incredible exercise and a clear demonstration of the power of championing marginalised voices. The feedback has been overwhelming and the fact that sales spiked significantly are both clear remi115
- Nappily Ever After and The Natural Hair MovementThis article is an opinion piece on the natural hair movement and its representation in the media. The full article can be read at this link: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/natural-hair-movement-nappily-ever-after-afro-hair-acceptance-sanaa-lathan-a8562026.html?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1538317541
- the home issue51
Work history
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Commissioning editorThe Independent
London, United KingdomFull Time
Editorial internThe Pool
- London, United KingdomInternship
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Skills
- Editing
- Sub-editing
- Public Speaking
- Hosting
- Workshop Skills
- Writing
- Reporting
- Mentoring
- Creative Writing
- Columnist