Imani Cheers This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. STLtoday - Entertainment - TV & Radio

   www.stltoday.com/stltoday/ente - [Cached]

   Published on: 10/23/2006   Last Visited: 10/25/2006

   "B-Side" began with Imani Cheers and Ian White, who were juniors, and Jamien Sills, a senior.
   ...
   The summer before her junior year, Cheers, 26, realized that Washington University did not have many creative outlets for black students.
   
   She remembers that the first season of "B-Side" was a struggle. Much of WUTV's equipment did not work. Cheers was concerned that the crew would lose interest because of their classwork and other commitments. But she soon found the members were dedicated and eager to see the program succeed.
   
   By fall 2001, what began as an intention to positively portray hip-hop music and culture expanded its scope to cover a broad array of issues and news, as well as music.
   
   After graduating in 2002, Cheers moved to L.A., where she worked as a production and director's assistant on commercials and TV shows, and with music-video directors including Little X.
   
   In August 2005, she began a five-year African and women's studies masters and doctorate program at Howard University in Washington, her hometown. She's also working as a photojournalist with the U.S. Agency for International Development in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Cheers says "B-Side" gave her the "desire to present accurate portrayals of people of the African Diaspora through the media."