Karama Horne

Karama Horne is a Brooklyn-based culture journalist, podcaster, host, producer, content creator, and author who operates at the intersection of geekdom and diversity under her theblerdgurl™ brand, which she founded in 2014. A Northwestern University graduate (TV and Film) who built her early career as a professional video editor for major advertising agencies, Horne launched theblerdgurl as a blog during a hospitalization following a stroke — a personal crisis that clarified her commitment to the work that made her happy and to amplifying Black and Brown creators in comics, gaming, sci-fi, and speculative fiction. That blog became one of the most trusted independent platforms for Black nerd culture in the industry. As a journalist, Horne has bylines at Marvel.com, Rotten Tomatoes, NERDIST, SYFY Wire, The Wrap, Mashable, Comics Beat, and okayAfrica, and has been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian, USA Today, The San Francisco Chronicle, and Black Enterprise. She hosted a dedicated indie comics column at SYFY Wire for several years and has co-hosted the flagship SYFY Wire podcast Who Won the Week. As an author, her debut novel Protectors of Wakanda: A History and Training Manual for the Dora Milaje (Marvel, 2022) marked a landmark entry point into the Black Panther universe, and she has contributed chapters to the Dark Horse Comics anthology Pros and (Comic) Cons and Marvel's Voices Legacy. Horne has also served in integrated marketing at Lion Forge Entertainment, where she worked to bring the animated series Iyanu: Child of Wonder to wider audiences. She has hosted red carpet premieres and convention mainstages at San Diego Comic-Con, New York Comic Con, Thought Bubble, and beyond, and consults with indie conventions and major brands including Jordan Brand on reaching the growing Black nerd audience.