Emil Wilbekin

Emil Wilbekin is the Chief Content Officer at AFROPUNK. He is also the Founder of Native Son, a movement created to inspire and empower Black Gay Men. Emil has appeared On-Air discussing pop culture, fashion/style, entertainment and current affairs on The Today Show, NBC Channel 4 News New York, E! VH-1, MTV, BET, CNN, The Insider, Arise 360, Revolt, and PBS. Wilbekin has an expertise in editorial creation, content curation and multimedia story telling (print, digital, social, video and live events) having served as Editor-At-Large at Essence, Managing Editor of Essence.com, Editor-in-Chief of Giant and Giantmag.com, Style Guru at Complex Media, VP of Brand Development at Marc Eckō Enterprises, Editorial Director/Vice President of Vibe Ventures and Editor-in-Chief of Vibe Magazine. Under Wilbekin’s leadership, Vibe won the National Magazine Award for General Excellence in 2002. He has served on the Boards of The Stonewall Community Foundation, DIFFA (The Design Industry Fights AIDS), LifeBeat, The Black AIDS Institute, and Gay Men’s Health Crisis. Wilbekin's work, creativity and leadership have been honored by the following organizations: Harlem’s Fashion Row, GLAAD, Hetrick-Martin Institute, HRC (The Human Rights Campaign), Stonewall Community Foundation, The Anti Violence Project, and the Black Alumni of Pratt. Wilbekin holds a B.S. in Mass Media Arts from Hampton University, and an M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University. He resides in New York City.

Moving culture, creating content and changing the conversation

Creating safe spaces for marginalized communities to inspire self actualization, self worth and self love.

Comedy