Natasha Alford is an award-winning journalist, the Vice President of Digital Content for The Grio, and CNN political analyst. She is most known for her sharp commentary on Black life in America and racism in politics. But she's also developed a knack for highlighting talent from the most sought after shows in Black Hollywood.

When I talked to Alford recently about having the ability to cover multiple beats and be effective, she chalked it up as something that Black journalists have to do, especially they we are working in Black newsrooms.

“I had to be everything from a producer to a writer, to an editor, to a videographer,” Alford said, explaining the mini rolls she had to master during her tenure at The Grio. Gaining an understanding of all those different responsibilities has afforded Alford the opportunity to be one of the most effective leaders in her field.

Existing in different spaces is not new to Alford, which she explains in her new book "American Negra," a deep dive into Alford's personal life as she came of age as a biracial brown girl in Syracuse, New York, learning to understand the beauty, the love and the difficulties that came with existing in both Black and Puerto Rican spaces.

Read the Q&A of our conversation below to learn more about "American Negra," colorism in the Latin community and to learn the life lesson Oprah shared with Alford that ultimately changed her life.

This transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Related

Welcome, Welcome.

I'm so happy. This is so full-circle talking to you, because I've interviewed you many times about your books, so honored to be here. Thanks for having me.

Congratulations. I know you have been working at this for a long time. We spoke about it a little bit in passing, but I was so happy to just learn about your story, and we'll get into identity and all of these different topics that you cover. Could you start with the title?

Yes, yes. The title, I hope, is a declaration. When you are a young Latino or a Latina and you are going through your community, whether you're walking down the street or you're at a family gathering, sometimes you're referred to by the color of your skin. So people will call you, "negra" or "negro" or "morena," and it's really just really two sides of the same coin. It could be a term of endearment, people saying that they love you for your Blackness, or it could be an insult and an attack.

And so I wanted to embrace the term to let the world know that I'm proud to be a Black woman, but also that wherever I go, I'm a Black woman, whether I'm here in the United States or I'm traveling around the world in Latin America, people see my Blackness first. And so that declaration, I think, is really important because we do hear a narrative that's a little oversimplified that the majority of Afro-Latinos don't want to be Black or they don't know they're Black or they're not proud to be Black, when in fact there are so many who are very racially conscious and actually on the front lines fighting for racial equality.

So this is a declaration. It is also an assertion that America see Black people in all of our diversity, all of our unique stories, and that's why I called it "American Negra."

So, you talk about a lot in this book. You talk about everything that happened in high school, you talk about your family's history in this country, you talk about your mom and dad's relationship, you talk about bumping heads with your dad.

You got really personal, and I was kind of curious as to that process. How did you know that now was the time to tell this story?

You know, I've lived many lives. I'm only in my mid-30s and I've had at least three different career experiences. Working in a hedge fund, so that's one world. Think about "Billions," that show. That's where I worked. Working in inner-city classrooms, so to speak, "Abbott Elementary," I've lived that life. You could literally just find different worlds, and I've traversed them all. And I think the purpose was to come back and give a testimony. I feel like I tried on the American dream, the American dream that we're sold, and I learned what was true about it. I also learned what was a fantasy in terms of what is supposed to fulfill you and satisfy you on a soul level. And so I wanted to come back and say, "Look, I'd done it all. I've checked off these boxes and these are the lessons and the takeaways of that."

Really, I hope this is a blueprint, particularly for young people who are coming up, who are trying to go after the American dream, who feel hopeless at times, who feel like they did what they were told, and yet they're not satisfied on a soul level. I hope it speaks to them, and it lets them know the power of being true to themselves. And also that to be successful, you don't always have to assimilate. You don't always have to follow whatever traditional career ladder you're told you need to climb.

So those are some of the thoughts that went into doing a memoir this young. I think we need more memoirs from young people, that you don't have to wait until you're 50 and 60 years old because I am closer to this generation in terms of the experiences that I've had, and I want to give them some of the game, which I think a lot of people hold onto once they become successful. So that is part of the motivation.

No, there's so many stories in there that I think is going to help young people, dealing with people in high school who lie and say they were with you, dealing with people who aren't fully trying to support your dreams or telling you that, "You can't get into an Ivy League school." So it's navigating all of that. It is all in the book, and I think you do a great job at that.

Thank you.

What was it like dealing with the publisher? So we know the article side, we know how to crank out some articles, but just sitting down and sustaining a thought for two, three, 400 pages, and then working with your publisher, what was that like?

It was a journey, D. I mean, I was brand new to the publishing world. I got a few offers, which is incredible, right? First, you think you've hit the lottery because you're like, "Wow, people want me to write a book." But I went with the publisher who let me do the story the way I........

© Salon