Faces of NPR: Gene Demby

Faces Of NPR showcases the people behind NPR--from the voices you hear every day on the radio to the ones who work outside of the recording studio. You'll find out about what they do and what they're inspired by on the daily. Today we feature Gene Demby, Co-Host of Code Switch.

The Basics:

Name: Gene Demby

Title: Co-Host, Code Switch

Twitter Handle: @GeeDee215

Where you're from: Philadelphia, PA

As a Black man at NPR, how did you find your footing? And who did you look to as a mentor to help you?

The people who were my mentors were the people who started the team, like Lynette Clemetson, who is no longer here, along with Keith Woods, who co-created Code Switch. Lynette and Keith were like mentors who a lot of people talked to about stuff, professional stuff, personal stuff. And my old editor, my very first editor, Matt Thompson, who is at The New York Times. They were my peers, but obviously they were much further along in their careers. I looked up to them and they could be real with me. They were so helpful working out editorial questions, but also personal stuff. I didn't know how to navigate a building like this. And it was the most high-profile role that I'd ever been in, and that came with a lot of challenges. They pulled me aside when I was messing up, and they also helped me see around corners that I couldn't see around myself. They were like, "Hey, just so you know, this is stuff you need to be mindful of." And it was stuff that I wasn't always thinking about.

A lot of people in this building, especially young people of color, don't feel like they have those people. And I feel like I got such the opposite experience when I got here. I know that there are all these difficulties that come with working here. But I have one