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TALIA "BINX" SMITH
Meet our Creator and CEO, renowned journalist Talia Smith. A product of a single-mother household in inner-city Philadelphia, from an early age, Talia grew up, in-and-among various subcultures. It is through this lens that Talia developed a passion for journalistic storytelling as a means of shining a light on those whose narratives have been overlooked or erased. Talia began writing poetry and novels, based on, and inspired by her surroundings, as well as crafting visual art pieces, that told stories of her own community.
“When I was little I used to dream I could change what I saw happening in my community… what my neighborhood was going through. I hated the narrative used to describe my home; what we would now consider to be “expected” cultural canon. My passion, my activism, everything that translates into my journalism, ever since I can remember, came as a reflex out of forced circumstances. Seeing little-to-no authentic representational viewpoints of Black women in the media, coupled with agenda-based narrative, forced upon the Black community, as a whole, within the news. That’s something I constantly work toward changing… it’s definitely one of my top career and life goals. For me, it’s more than trying to “objectify” the struggle that Black people face. It is taking action.
We’ve been “objectified” and “commodified” by people who have re-worked our narratives, our culture, to their advantage. I believe now is the time to place the story, of the culture, back into the hands of the culture. All of my documentaries are solely dedicated to fighting for this, and only this. And that is something I am constantly working toward and something I wake up everyday with intent to do. To Fight. Fight for my truth, for my communities truth, for any marginalized communities truth. OUR truth will to be heard. “ - Talia Smith
Meet The Founder
Meet our Creator and CEO, renowned journalist Talia Smith. A product of a single-mother household in inner-city Philadelphia, from an early age, Talia grew up, in-and-among various subcultures. It is through this lens that Talia developed a passion for journalistic storytelling as a means of shining a light on those whose narratives have been overlooked or erased. Talia began writing poetry and novels, based on, and inspired by her surroundings, as well as crafting visual art pieces, that told stories of her own community.
“When I was little I used to dream I could change what I saw happening in my community… what my neighborhood was going through. I hated the narrative used to describe my home; what we would now consider to be “expected” cultural canon. My passion, my activism, everything that translates into my journalism, ever since I can remember, came as a reflex out of forced circumstances. Seeing little-to-no authentic representational viewpoints of Black women in the media, coupled with agenda-based narrative, forced upon the Black community, as a whole, within the news. That’s something I constantly work toward changing… it’s definitely one of my top career and life goals. Everything I’ve done, every breath that I have inhaled, has been a step of action toward that.
“I wake up everyday with intent to do. To Fight. Fight for my truth, for my communities truth, and fight for any community that has been systematically robbed by colonizers and the economic and political systems that are designed to uplift the colonizers. My philosophy is that there is only one way go about doing this, and it’s by following these core principals: Identify. Disrupt. Dismantle. Rebuild. Redistribute. “
— Talia Smith
We’ve been objectified and commodified by people who have re-worked our narratives, our culture, to their advantage. I believe now is the time to place the story, of the culture, back into the hands of the culture. All of my documentaries are solely dedicated to fighting for this, and only this. And that is something I am constantly working toward and something I wake up everyday with intent to do. To Fight. Fight for my truth, for my communities truth, and fight for any community that has been systematically robbed by colonizers and the economic and political systems that are designed to uplift the colonizers. My philosophy is that there is only one way go about doing this, and it’s by following these core principals: Identify. Disrupt. Dismantle. Rebuild. Redistribute. “ – Talia Smith
We’ve been objectified and commodified by people who have re-worked our narratives, our culture, to their advantage. I believe now is the time to place the story, of the culture, back into the hands of the culture. All of my documentaries are solely dedicated to fighting for this, and only this. And that is something I am constantly working toward and something I wake up everyday with intent to do. To Fight. Fight for my truth, for my communities truth, and fight for any community that has been systematically robbed by colonizers and the economic and political systems that are designed to uplift the colonizers. My philosophy is that there is only one way go about doing this, and it’s by following these core principals: Identify. Disrupt.
Dismantle. Rebuild. Redistribute. “ – Talia Smith
Talia has been heavily inspired by a long list of readings by James Baldwin, Audre Lorde and more. Talia describes her philosophy as a mixture of all her idols Tupac Shakur, Hayao Miyazaki, Will Smith, Frida Kahlo, Sandra Cisneros and strong women, like her mother.
Coming up without any industry connections, Talia’s persistence allowed her to knock-down doors at major news outlets; that were not readily open to her cultural point of view. Talia’s work has appeared in Harper’s Bazaar, Cheddar TV, Paper Magazine, Vice, Nylon Magazine, Dazed & Confused, GALORE, The New York Observer, among many other places. Talia continues to persevere to ensure the that the culture is represented on increasingly bigger platforms, and that the revolution WILL be televised.
Talia Smith
Journalist, Creator, Founder and CEO of Incendiary Balloons Media
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