Brianna Harmon is a talk show host on ‘R News’ at Revolt TV in Los Angeles.
Photo submitted by Brianna Harmon.
Brianna Harmon is known as the popular, beautiful, outgoing entertainment star who graduated from Florida A&M University’s School of Journalism and Graphic Communication. She has conquered every department in the school’s convergence, from 90.5, the FAMUAN and Journey magazine.
Currently, Harmon is a talk show host on ‘R News’ at Revolt TV in Los Angeles. R News gives its viewers a weekly dose of dope discussion and hard-hitting headlines about everything happening within hip-hop and the culture.
Harmon began her tenure at FAMU in the summer of 2014. Initially, she planned to attend Spelman College in Atlanta, where she had a full scholarship. However, after a conversation with her aunt, a FAMU alumna, and paying FAMU a visit where she experienced fried chicken Wednesday and Set Friday, she felt in her heart that FAMU was home. She began as a student in the School of Business and Industry and quickly realized that she didn’t want to major in business. She found her niche in journalism and switch over to SJGC.
It was in SJGC where Harmon made her mark at FAMU. You would either see her at convocation on the court, hear her on the radio interviewing celebrities, see her at your favorite event as a host, watch her on TV 20 News @ 5 reporting entertainment news or see a picture of her modeling in FAMU’s Journey magazine. She took everything that she learned in SJGC and put her own entertainment spin on it.
She did as Professor Kalisha Whitman's said and “made her weird work.”
“She makes her weird work with her actions. She told me she wanted to be in entertainment news. We found her avenue. She entered the industry doing credibility entertainment news with Revolt.
“I’m grateful Revolt noticed Brianna. When I watch her, I think of all the avenues journalism could be used,” added Whitman, an assistant professor at SJGC. “Now is the time for people to look Bri’s example. I’m glad she listened to my ‘Make Your Weird Work’ spiel.”
In SJGC the goal is to teach students the foundation of journalism; how to write and report hard news. Harmon used what was she was taught to her advantage. She was on the radio show “The Spin,” a talk show that catered to entertainment news. The Spin was the beginning of her wanting to be an entertainment journalist and the beginning of her realizing how to make SJGC work for her.
“I thought to myself, if I wanted to be the next Rosci, the next Terrence or the next Lala, how can I brand myself within this school and use what they’ve got to offer me,” said Harmon. “Everything j-school had to offer helped me build my way into the industry. But, I had to create my own lane within the school.”
Staying organized was a staple in Harmon’s success at FAMU. Harmon organized her whole life with her planner that she wrote everything in. She even had sticky notes to remind her where she needed to be and how long she needed to be there.
Prioritizing her schoolwork and her work toward building her career was most important to her. Above all, Harmon believed in sacrifice. There were a lot of times where she missed out on the fun to get her assignments done or to get internship applications in because she believed that the fun would come when she was done.
“She went on a fast. No meat, no alcohol. I remember she told me it was the Daniel Fast and explained it’s supposed to help you focus on praying for what you want,” said Dajah Dorn, Harmon’s close friend. “She told me a friend of hers sent her the Revolt link, she sent over her stuff, got an interview, flew out and did chemistry tests etc, came back, a few days before graduation she had the job and had to leave literally two days after graduation. The process happened so quick but looking back her being obedient and praying really was a major part of getting that goal accomplished.”
If you didn’t know Harmon personally, her life probably looks like it is perfect. But, Harmon says to not judge a book by its cover because there were plenty of nights where she cried out of frustration or cried to FAMU Professor Kenneth Jones about not being where she wanted to be, or not qualifying for internships.
But one thing she did not do is give up. She has a hustler mentality and because of that people thought she was the perfect girl who got everything handed to her. However, she worked tirelessly to get to where she is in life. Her hustle was just silent.