What’s good, everybody? My name is Marla Eyvette Massie. I’m 36 years old and I live in Cleveland, OH. I grew up in Ohio City, not far from St. Ignatius High School. I have 4 brothers, 4 sisters, 9 nephews, 5 nieces, and my mom is the youngest of 13. A big family means big love, hahaha. I have one child of my own; his name is Jordan and he’ll be 22 in January.
Yes, I definitely said 22.
I have a lot of passions, but the top ones involve family, animal welfare, rights for black & brown people, rights for children & the elderly, and the history of the city. I’m a standup comedian and I perform all over the city and the country. I’ve been a standup for almost a decade.
I wanted to write for Black Girl in the CLE because I’m a writer, and I wanted to write for a publication that understood my voice as a young black woman living in an America that has consistently told her from Day One that she is not valued, respected, cared, or loved, yet she still rose above the chaos to see the beauty in the world around her. I’ve spent a huge amount of time trying to find my voice, and once I found it, I spent even MORE time trying to share my voice.
I’ve written an article for WhoHaHa, an online community created by actress Elizabeth Banks that spotlights women+ and gender minorities in comedy.
I want to be considered a reputable and respected member of the online writing community because I never let my personal biases get in the way of honest and fair story reporting.
The stories I will be covering will mostly be arts & entertainment, as I am an entertainer myself. I write lighthearted stories on new food places to eat, family-oriented events, and cool happenings in the city; but I’ll also do investigative journalism and write on harder-hitting subjects such as the goings-on at City Hall. If a story breaks at an apartment complex I’d interview (WITH PERMISSION) the tenants that live there and try to get the responses of the building owners, maintenance and contractors who were placed to fix the issues. If I’m unable to interview them, I’d make a note that it wasn’t able to happen. Honest, fair… all-encompassing. No stone gets left unturned with my reporting.
I want the readers to be able to get the whole story, they’ll get some of my thoughts and views on it, and I’ll leave the stories open for discussion to gauge what the readers think and keep them updated with any new developments for each story.