Coming to New York Comic Con! Geeks of Color, Third Edition: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

Geeks of Color, Third Edition: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
Fri. October 9| 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM | Room 1A01

Geeks of Color returns to discuss representation in comics, pop journalism, gaming, podcasting & book publishing and much more. Featuring Shelley Diaz (Editor, School Library Journal), Melissa Grey (The Girl at Midnight), N. Steven Harris (Illustrator, Ajala, DC Comic, Marvel), Tracey John (Narrative Designer & Journalist, Gameloft, MTV), Tatiana G. King-Jones (Podcaster, FanBrosShow) & Camilla Zhang (DC Comics, Marvel). Moderated by Diana M. Pho (Editor, Tor Books).

UPDATE (9/18/2015):  A big welcome to a new addition to our panel: Eric Dean Seaton, a two-time NAACP Image Award-nominated episodic television director.

Geeks of Color Meet-up! 
Fri. October 9| 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM | 1E03
NEW PANEL ADDED!

Want to mingle with fellow geeks of color? How about getting some insider’s knowledge of the industry with some one-on-one honest convos with creators of color?

Come join fellow fans of color and panelists from the Geeks of Color panel in a casual meet-up setting where we can discuss our nerd loves, fandom head canons and an in-depth insider’s look into the world of comics, YA publishing, pop culture blogging, video games & more. Hosted by Diana M. Pho (editor, Tor Books) and featuring Shelley Diaz (Editor, School Library Journal), Melissa Grey (The Girl at Midnight), Tracey John (Narrative Designer & Journalist, Gameloft, MTV), and others!

Full panelist details are after the jump. Hope to see some of our readers there!

Featuring:

Diana M. Pho (moderator) is an editor, scholar, activist, and performer. For several years, she has traveled the country as a professional convention speaker about social justice issues and fandom. She has been published in several books, academic journals, and magazines, including the Journal of Victorian Culture Online, Overland magazine, Steampunk World, Uncanny Magazine, and The Steampunk User’s Manual. She has been interviewed about geek culture for many media outlets, including BBC America, the Travel Channel, HGTV, CBS’s “Inside Edition”, and the Science Channel. Diana has been moderating successful & popular panels for NYCC for the last three years. beyondvictoriana.com / @writersyndrome

PANELISTS

Shelley Diaz has worked in several areas of children’s publishing, from licensing to book scouting. She was the coeditor of Caridad Ferrer’s So She Dances and Gloria Whelan’s The Disappeared. Currently Senior Editor, Reviews at School Library Journal, Shelley recently completed her MLIS at Queens College and became the editor of the SLJTeen newsletter. At SLJ, she edits book reviews, conducts author interviews, and writes news articles on diversity issues. She can be found tweeting about books, TV shows, and movies. @sdiaz101.

Melissa Grey is a Puerto Rican author from a working class background, born and raised in New York City. Her debut novel, The Girl at Midnight, was published by Random House in April of 2015. The second book in the trilogy,The Shadow Hour, is scheduled for a June 2016 release, with the third book to follow in June of 2017. Outside the realm of fiction, Melissa has also covered comics, gaming, tech, and the publishing industry as a freelance journalist since 2010. Her work has appeared on IGN, Tor.com, SF Signal, Engadget, Bloody Disgusting, and Starburst Magazine. @meligrey / instagram.com/melissagrey_

N. Steven Harris is a 2 time Eisner Nominated and 5 time Glyph Award winning illustrator for his works on Watson and Holmes and his co-creator property, Ajala. Specializing in comics and storyboards, Mr. Harris has worked for Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse, and high profile ad agencies on products like Coke Cola, Google, and Samsung and his work has been represented in such mediums as comics, billboards, television commercials.
nstevenworks.com / nstevenharris.deviantart.com
@NStevenHarris

The daughter of Mozambique-born Chinese immigrants, Tracey John is a veteran writer and editor who’s worked in the video game and entertainment industries for over 12 years. During her time as a tech and video games journalist, Tracey’s work has appeared in mainstream outlets including MTV, News Corp., Wired, TIME, Forbes, and Hearst Corp. as well as enthusiast publications like EGM, 1UP, Kotaku, GamePro, PlayStation magazine, Xbox magazine, Wizard magazine, and ToyFare magazine. She was also a narrative designer at Gameloft, where she wrote stories for iOS and Android games such as “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,” “The Oregon Trail,” and Disney’s “Cars: Fast as Lightning.” Currently, she works at an advertising agency helping to write and design digital experiences for healthcare. In her free time, she writes for independent apps and games. Her work can be seen at traceyjohn.com. / @traceyjohn

Tatiana G. King-Jones, the self-proclaimed “Grand Duchess of Tech”, has served the social media and Internet community as a thought leader, tech advocate, and opinionated “nerd personality”. She is a host for FanBrosShow a podcast and brand showcasing geek culture from the perspective of people of color. She has appeared as a panelist at SXSW 2014 for the session “How the Black Twitterverse is Changing Pop Culture”, has appeared multiple times on Arise360TV, and was a guest lecturer at Howard University Law School for the course “Social Media and the Law”. @TatianaKing

As a two-time NAACP Image Award-nominated episodic director, Eric Dean Seaton has directed over 200 television episodes of 38 different hit TV series, including NBC/Warner Bros. comedy “Undateable,”TBS’s “Ground Floor,” BET’s “Let’s Stay Together,” Disney’s “Austin & Ally” and Nickelodeon’s “Bella and the Bulldogs.” He has also directed 18 music videos and two pilots for Nickelodeon, as well as two pilots for Disney XD.

Seaton is also the creator, writer and publisher of the Legend of the Mantamaji graphic novel trilogy and director of the Legend of the Mantamaji Live Action Short. The series, published by “And… Action!” Entertainment was named a Top Graphic Novel by Examiner.com and Atlanta Black Star and nominated for a 2015 Glyph Comics Awards. Legend of the Mantamaji Live Action Short was recently awarded an Honorable Mention and Best Editing Award at the Los Angeles Movie Awards.
http://ericdeanseaton.com/
@ericdeanseaton

New York City native Camilla Zhang is a blogger and writer of fiction and comics. She has worked for both Marvel and DC Entertainment and is a runner-up for Top Cow’s 2015 Talent Hunt. She has been published in Reading with Pictures and Columbia’s RE Magazine. In her spare time, she is a grassroots community organizer fighting for housing rights in Bushwick, Brooklyn. camillazhang.com @illathekilla

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