Malaika Jabali

Malaika Jabali is the Senior News and Politics Editor at Essence Magazine. Her writing has appeared in The Root, Teen Vogue, The New Republic, and The Guardian where she was a columnist.

She received her law degree from Columbia Law School, where she served as the Articles Editor for the Columbia Journal of Race and Law. Prior to law school, she received her M.S. from the Columbia School of Social Work.

Her debut political feature in Current Affairs Magazine, The Color of Economic Anxiety, was awarded the 2019 New York Association of Black Journalists Media Award for Newspaper/ Magazine feature.

A retired public policy attorney, Malaika wrote legislation and examined policy for the New York City Council for seven years.