Bené Viera is a passionate multimedia journalist, writer and editor.

Her words have graced the pages and websites of The New York Times, GQ, Vulture, Cosmopolitan, ESSENCE, ELLE, Glamour, ESPN, VH1, Jezebel, VIBE and elsewhere. For a decade Bené has covered culture and how it intersects with race and gender. Because she has a gift for interviewing, she has been asked to interview more artists, actors, creators and every day people than she can name. She has interviewed three families affected by state sanctioned violence— Trayvon Martin’s father, Michael Brown’s mother and Sean Bell’s fiancé— with the empathy it takes to tell such hard stories. She has held Staff Writer and Editor roles at Clutch, VH1, Centric TV and The Frisky, respectively. In May 2015 and 2016, she was brought on as an editor for the ESSENCE Festival overseeing the festival’s digital content. In June 2017, she was hired as EBONY’s Culture Editor to help rebrand the historical magazine and relaunch JET magazine for millennials. 

One of Bené’s career highlights include “The House That Shonda Built” cover story for ESSENCE magazine’s October 2015 issue. It was the first time in the magazine’s 45 year history that it released six covers for one issue. She also penned three cover stories for the magazine’s #BlackGirlMagic February 2016 issue. She has appeared on BBC News and HuffPost Live, and has spoken at Columbia University, St. John’s University and Mercer Community College. 

Bené’s work demonstrates her longtime commitment to centering stories of marginalized communities. Anyone who has worked with her can attest to her deep love and commitment for the craft of writing. Bené has a MA in Journalism and BA in English. She resides in Brooklyn while repping the south to the fullest.