Rhiana Gunn-Wright

Rhiana Gunn-Wright

Chicago-native and Yale honor student Rhiana Gunn-Wright is a juggler. Not the kind in the circus, but the kind who can handle just about any assignment you would toss at her.

She had just finished a half-semester of work at the Ivy League school, had her weekly mentoring session with a young student at a local New Haven junior high school, and to top it off, on this particular week in February of 2009, had helped organize and ran registration and housing for 700 out-of-town visitors for the 14th Annual Black Solidarity Conference at Yale.

All in a day’s work for Rhiana, a 2007 Jack Kent Cooke College Scholar, who loves writing and music, especially hip-hop. The future journalist (or perhaps attorney) said she is enjoying the current political climate in America. Thrilled by the success of another Chicago resident (President Obama), Rhiana spent the summer before her junior year of college in Washington, DC, working as an intern with a non-profit women’s organization.

When her undergraduate days come to an end, the nation’s capital may again be in her future, at least for a while. A member of the board of directors of Yale’s Women’s Center, Rhiana hopes that she can make a difference in shaping policy to further level the playing field for women and women of color.

And where does she see herself in ten years? In an earlier interview while still in high school, Rhiana said her goal was to eventually be the editor-in-chief of Vibe Magazine, a publication launched by the legendary Quincy Jones that features R&B and hip-hop music artists. Is Vibe still in her plans? “Too early to tell,” she says, but don’t count her out.