Donna Byrd

Donna Byrd is the founding publisher of TheRoot.com.  Over the past six years, she has led the team that has made it the #1 news site focused on black America. Her achievements at TheRoot.com follow her success as the founding CEO of Tom Joyner’s news portal BlackAmericaWeb.com.

An expert marketer, she co-founded KickOff Marketing, served as a brand manager for Coca-Cola classic, and cut her teeth in sales at Procter and Gamble. Her marketing acumen has been central to her success as an entrepreneur.  She is a proud founder of three successful companies.

She has an MBA from Duke, a BA from the University of Virginia, and studied at The University of Cape Town.

She is also a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute and on the board of Black Girls Rock, a youth empowerment and mentoring organization that promotes the arts for young women of color.