Award-Winning Journalist Cynthia Gordy Named First-Ever Washington Correspondent...

Award-Winning Journalist Cynthia Gordy Named First-Ever Washington
Correspondent for ESSENCE

NEW YORK, Jan. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Award-winning journalist, Cynthia Gordy, has
been named the first-ever Washington Correspondent for ESSENCE, it was
announced today by Angela Burt-Murray, Editor-in-Chief, ESSENCE. Previously
serving as the News Editor for ESSENCE, she will continue to report to Tatsha
Robertson, Deputy Editor, News for ESSENCE. In this new role, Gordy will be
responsible for developing and maintaining key relationships on behalf of
ESSENCE with the Obama administration, as well as the First Lady's staff and
cabinet level officers; covering issues of importance to the African-American
community. As the brand's Washington Correspondent, Gordy will generate
features and report breaking news for both ESSENCE magazine and Essence.com;
including a monthly column in the magazine and a daily "Obama Watch" section
online.

"We are so excited to have Cynthia Gordy, one of our most talented and
highly-regarded editors, take on this new and exciting challenge," says Angela
Burt-Murray, Editor-in-Chief, ESSENCE. "Given her extensive news experience,
especially as it relates to coverage of the 2008 Presidential campaign, I am
confident ESSENCE and its readership of over 8 million African-American women
will be well represented at the White House."

As a member of the ESSENCE editorial team since 2004, Gordy was most recently
the News Editor for ESSENCE, during which time she covered the 2008
Presidential campaign and scored exclusive interviews with political leaders
from both parties. Gordy followed the campaign from the primaries to the
Democratic and Republican National Conventions through election day;
culminating in live coverage of Obama's victory rally in Chicago's Grant Park.

Through the years, Cynthia has broken a number of enterprise stories: she got
the first print interview with Nicole Paultre Bell; she was also the first
print reporter to talk with Genarlow Wilson after he was released from jail.
She nabbed one of the first interviews with Desiree Rogers, the incoming White
House social secretary. Cynthia has won a number of national honors, including
NABJ and NYABJ awards for her narrative about how environmental racism plagued
one rural community. She was also honored for her spot report -- "An American
Tragedy: The Heartbreaking Death of Sean Bell," which won an NYABJ award.

Gordy has also reported and edited news on current events, international
affairs, and a wide variety of social issues including criminal justice,
domestic violence, HIV/AIDS in the Black community, police brutality, and hate
crimes. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Creative Non-fiction Writing and
Africana Studies from the University of Pittsburgh and now resides in Harlem.

About Essence Communications Inc.:

Essence Communications Inc. (ECI) is the leading media and communications
company dedicated to African-American women. With a multi-platform presence
in publishing, live events, and online, the Essence brand is "Where Black
Women Come First". The company's flagship publication, ESSENCE magazine, is
the preeminent lifestyle magazine for African-American women; generating brand
extensions such as the Essence Music Festival, Women Who Are Shaping the World
LeadershipSummit, Window on Our Women (WOW I, II & III) and Smart Beauty I, II
& III consumer insights, the Essence Book Club, Essence.com, and ventures in
digital media (mobile, television and VOD). For 38 years, ESSENCE magazine,
which has a readership of 8.1 million, has been the leading source of
cutting-edge information relating to every area of African-American women's
lives.

Additional information about ECI and ESSENCE is available at Essence.com.

SOURCE ESSENCE Magazine

Dana Baxter, ESSENCE magazine, +1-212-522-1634, dbaxter@essence.com