Starrene Rhett is a New York City-based freelance journalist who specializes in print, broadcast and social media. Her witty, quirky personality has earned her the nickname “Hip-Hop Mary Tyler Moore.” Her two-year-old website, GangStarrGirl.com, focuses on women in hip-hop, pop-culture and telling the stories of people who are hiding in plain site. GangStarrGirl.com is a great resource for original content and edutainment. Most people discover that upon reading her left-of-center musings they learn something new while chuckling in the process.
Starrene is currently a blogger for BET.com, where she muses about TV, as well as a content producer for VIBE.com, where she interviews celebrities for relationship columns, covers TV and film and chases entertainment news leads. She also contributes to Juicy, XXL and VIBE magazines.
Previously, she has contributed to Honeymag.com, AllHipHop.com, MadameNoire.com, The Amsterdam News, Scripps Howard Newswire, worked as Assistant Editor at XXL magazine, as well as web editor for Roc4Life.com, which was supervised by Jay-Z. An accomplished and well-rounded journalist, she has also worked in television as a production assistant for NYC TV, on shows like Blueprint NYC and Eat Out New York.
Starrene has been a public speaker since elementary school, participating in panels for The National Urban League, The New York Urban League, Merrill Lynch, Kingsborough Community College and her alma mater, Hampton University. She has won the popular vote in the 2009 Black Web Log Awards for Best Hip-Hop Blog and Best Music Blog and has been featured by Essence Magazine online, Rocawear’s 10th Anniversary C’Webrity Campaign, The Joy Daily Radio Show, Black Enterprise online and most recently as a finalist for Alicia Keys’ search for a head blogger competition.
Interview credits include Terry Crews, Ice Cube, KeKe Palmer, Nick Cannon, Ice-T, MC Hammer, Anika Noni Rose, Common and more.
