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Kyra Kyles
C-Level Executive ★ Speaker ★ Journalist ★ Media & Entertainment Diversity Advocate ★ Branded Content Strategist
Professional Background
Kyra Kyles stands out as a digital native and eminent leader in the media industry. Currently serving as the Chief Executive Officer at YR Media, which was formerly known as Youth Radio, Kyra has carved a niche for herself as a pioneering voice within the nonprofit sector of media. Her leadership at YR Media focuses on elevating the narratives of young people, ensuring their stories and perspectives are represented through authentic and engaging content. Prior to this role, she held the prestigious title of Editor-in-Chief at EBONY magazine, where she made a significant impact and contributed to the media landscape with her visionary ideas.
Throughout her career, Kyra has always strived to combine creativity with productivity. Under her tenure, the teams she has led have produced exceptional editorial content that resonates with diverse audiences. A highlight among her many achievements is the receipt of Adweek’s Cover of the Week award within just 24 hours for the remarkable February 2017 issue of EBONY, featuring the artwork of Kadir Nelson—a testament to her ability to create buzzworthy content and drive engagement in the highly competitive media space.
Kyra's earlier work with the Chicago Tribune is also noteworthy, where she transformed the simple public transit column "Going Public" into a significant media success. The column was awarded the Tribune’s Jones Beck Award for Journalism due to its innovative approach to audience engagement, which led to various radio and television appearances, displaying her versatility as a content creator and communicator. Beyond writing, she has ventured into multimedia production, launching various original products like "The Kyles Files" digital column and the acclaimed "Human Resources the Series." These endeavors showcase her capacity as both a storyteller and business leader.
Education and Achievements
Kyra’s educational foundation is robust, having earned both her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Science in Journalism at Northwestern University. Her dedication to learning and understanding the evolution of media is evident in her academic pursuits and in her innovative approaches to content creation. Additionally, she had the opportunity to co-design and teach a course on Hip-Hop Culture at Northwestern's Department of African American Studies, which not only highlights her expertise in contemporary culture but also her passion for imparting knowledge to others.
Kyra’s commitment to excellence extends beyond journalism. She was instrumental in leading the development of an in-house multimedia production studio at EBONY, allowing the organization to produce compelling video content while saving costs. This innovation not only enhanced the quality of the output but also sparked creativity among her team members, driving a culture that thrives on collaboration and ingenuity.
Achievements
- Adweek’s Cover of the Week: Kyra preemptively won this award with the February 2017 EBONY magazine cover, showcasing her talent for identifying trend-setting content and generating immediate audience interest.
- Jones Beck Award: Her column "Going Public" in the Chicago Tribune was recognized for its excellence in journalism, marking a significant achievement early in her career.
- Innovative Media Products: The launch of successful projects such as "The Track-Off" music competition and the digital series "Human Resources" speaks to her ability to leverage diverse platforms and formats to reach and engage audiences effectively.
- Public Speaking Engagements: Kyra has served as a keynote speaker at prominent events like the Blavity EmpowerHer Conference and Chicago Humanities Festival, where she combines humor and social commentary to deliver impactful messages about the media landscape.
Through her career, Kyra Kyles has proven to be a transformative figure in the world of journalism and media, continually pushing boundaries to create compelling content while inspiring the next generation of storytellers. Her commitment to diversity, creativity, and audience engagement sets a high bar in the industry, making her a respected leader and influencer. Her journey reflects an ongoing quest to innovate and elevate narrative forms, ensuring they retain relevance in an ever-evolving media environment.
Highlights
Flashing back to last Tuesday when some of my favorite storytellers and Chicago media legends gathered together for an intergenerational panel of BIPOC journalists, the first ever public event held in YR Media's Chicago-based Midwest hub. Thank you to YR Media Board of Directors and Midwest Advisory Council member Dometi Pongo for excellent opening remarks. Thank you to our insightful panelists Brandon Pope; YR Media contributor Noah Johnson; L'Oreal Thompson Payton. Shout out to a number of our Midwest Advisory Council members for their support in both planning and coming to join the celebration including Board member Lathan; Chan C. Smith; Teryn Payne; Jhmira Latrice Alexander, MPA, Kozi Kyles and Jayme Joyce. Too many wonderful folks came out to tag, but please watch the replay and experience it for yourself. We had a great discussion on everything from the backlash to DEIB in newsrooms and coverage to how seasoned and emerging journalists can be better allies to one another. Click and see, and add your thoughts to the ongoing conversation. More events to come!
These headlines around fading corporate promises around being inclusive, aka representative of our society, have been so disheartening and we all KNOW what it is around the fears of our young people heading into colleges and universities right now. So I would like to offer a ray of sunshine into our collective feeds with this amazing Fast Company article by Bob McKinnon featuring both YR Media and 826 Valencia about the power of centering the perspective of young BIPOC storytellers. Remember that it isn't all bad and we can all be doing something to make it better. #media #collegesanduniversities #diversityequityinclusion #genz
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Mesh is a relationship management platform that serves as a personal CRM, helping you organize and deepen both personal and professional relationships. It functions as a beautiful rolodex and CRM available on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and web, built automatically to help manage your network efficiently. Unlike traditional address books, Mesh centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
- Smart Search: Allows you to search using natural language like "People I know at the NYT" or "Designers I've met in London"
- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Mesh's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.