Danielle Belton

Belton grew up in Black Jack and Florissant, Missouri.^[2] After graduating from Hazelwood Central High School, she attended Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, where she received a Bachelor's degree in English and Journalism.^[2]

She started her journalism career with The Bakersfield Californian, a local newspaper in Bakersfield, California.^[3][4] In 2007 she started the 'Black Snob', an award-winning blog.^[5]

In 2011 she worked on developing a television show for Black Entertainment Television (BET) called Don't Sleep, hosted by T. J. Holmes; she became its head writer.^[6][7] Although the show was cancelled after 8 months, it was nominated for an NAACP Image Award in 2013.^[7][8]

In 2015 Belton joined The Root, where she was appointed as managing editor in 2016.^[9] She was appointed as its first editor-in-chief. She was succeeded by Vanessa de Luca in 2021^[10] when she was selected as editor of HuffPost.^{[11][5][12][3]}