Dr. Sheena Howard

Dr. Sheena C. Howard is an award-winning Black American author, scholar, filmmaker, educator, and comic book writer born and raised in Southwest Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She holds a degree in marketing, a master's degree in graphic design, and a PhD in intercultural and rhetorical communication from Howard University (2010). She is a Professor of Communication and Journalism at Rider University and founder of Power Your Research, an academic branding company. In 2014 she became the first Black woman to win an Eisner Award — the highest honor in comics, often called the Oscars of the industry — for Black Comics: Politics of Race and Representation (Bloomsbury, 2013), co-edited with Dr. Ronald L. Jackson II, which grew from her dissertation on African American communication dynamics through Black comic strips. In 2017 she published the Encyclopedia of Black Comics (Chicago Review Press) — the first book of its kind, profiling over 100 Black people in the comics industry — which was named the 2018 American Library Association Outstanding Reference Source. Her comic writing credits include co-writing Superb for Lion Forge's Catalyst Prime imprint (a critically acclaimed series about a teenage superhero with Down syndrome), Fresh Air in Philly for DC Comics (2021), Illusion of Fairness for Marvel Comics (2023), and a graphic novel and stage play for DMC of Run-DMC. Additional books include Black Queer Identity Matrix (2014), Why Wakanda Matters (BenBella, 2021), and BLAM! Black Lives Always Mattered. She is the director, writer, and producer of the documentary Remixing Colorblind, and the subject of an Emmy-nominated episode of State of the Arts. She has appeared as a cultural expert on NPR, ABC, BBC, and PBS, and her work has been featured in Good Morning America, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. She has twice received a Proclamation from the City of Philadelphia for her literary, social justice, and creative work.