Sergie Willoughby is the Senior Editor at The Network Journal Communications, Inc.
For TNJ.com, The Network Journal’s website, Willoughby accepts and approves article pitches, assigns and edits articles, develops content strategy, recruits writers and contributors, manages a pool of freelance writers, develops and produces video content and oversees the brand’s Twitter and Facebook pages. For the magazine, she produces The Network Journal’s photo shoots – overseeing hair & makeup, securing and working with fashion designers, stylists and photographers, and choosing cover themes.
Additionally, she attends gala events and writes business and arts & entertainment pieces, using SEO best practices, that are published in both the magazine and on the website. During her seven-year tenure with The Network Journal, she has covered the Legal Defense Fund, the Harlem School of the Arts, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Dance Theater of Harlem, Ronald K. Brown/Evidence, the Mission Society, the Black Retail Action Group, the Executive Leadership Council and a host of other prominent organizations and companies.
In 2014 and 2015, she was part of a delegation of journalists who traveled to Jamaica, West Indies, to report on Tourism and Finance. Also in 2015, she conceptualized and launched The Network Journal’s podcast series, Listen Up! Real Talk for You and Yours featuring conversations with top experts from a variety of industries ranging from personal finance to technology & innovation to entertainment.
In addition to writing articles for the magazine, in 2016, she had the idea to turn the magazine’s Winter issue into a dedicated Technology issue that is now a part of the magazine’s regular editorial calendar. For that issue, she chooses Cover subjects and writes the Cover story among stories within the issue.
For each issue, she collaborates with the editorial team to execute The Network Journal’s magazine covers. She also serves as director of The Network Journal’s college internship program.
For The Network Journal’s signature “25 Influential Black Women in Business” and “40 Under Forty Achievement Awards” events, she oversees video production, interviews honorees, and produces video packages for the company’s website and social media channels.
In 2017, she conceived, planned and executed the magazine’s first-ever technology event, “The Art of the VC,” a panel discussion and networking mixer held at The Microsoft Store in NYC. Also in 2017, she began securing sponsorships and advertising for the magazine.
Willoughby joined The Network Journal in February 2010 as assistant editor before being promoted to editor in February 2011. In 2015, she was named senior editor. Earlier in her career, she worked as a freelance writer, covering hip-hop music for the now-defunct RYDE magazine. Later, as an in-house writer and production assistant for a boutique artist management/production company in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, she wrote spec scripts for potential independent films and television shows; wrote creative copy for advertising & marketing campaigns; assisted the agency in nurturing its roster of music artists; and garnered media representation for the agency.
Before joining The Network Journal, she did stand-up, on-camera reporting for an award-winning news magazine television show that airs on WNYE-TV.
Currently, Willoughby teaches grammar & writing instruction at Hunter College’s School of Professional Studies, and provides private tutoring services in communications for adult students. She was a pre-journalism major at the University of Maryland at College Park before earning a bachelor?s degree in Advertising & Marketing Communications from the Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York. In 2000, she completed a certificate in Journalism from New York University’s School of Continuing Education.
