Current Occupation: Co-founder and Chief Strategic Officer, Roscoe Labs
Favorite Read: The Bible
Recent Read: Once A Runner: A Novel, by John L. Parker, Jr.
2012’s Ultimate Goal: Meet our funding goals and successful launch 5 Key Urban markets
Quote Governing Your Mission or Quote that Inspires You: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 NKJV
Twitter Handle: @kmiles524, @Roscoetv
So, here we are already with another Behind The Click. Get ready because this is a particularly interesting one. I recently had the opportunity to connect with Katrina Miles who is the co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Roscoe.tv , a mobile first news app that bring together news junkies, casual journalists, and old pros locally. She’s responsible for creating, communicating, and executing and sustaining strategic initiatives, a startup that builds news focused mobile applications. Her background is not the norm so it is particularly inspiring to connect with her.
LDC: I love to always start with education first. So how did you come to select Florida A&M University?
KM: Transferred. One of my high school journalism mentors, Louise Reid Ritchie and her husband Joe, had accepted positions there on staff. Joe as the Knight Chair at the J-School and Louise as the FAMUAN advisor. In the late 80s early 90s – the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit Public Schools had a partnership that allowed DPS journo students to use the Freep newsroom to write, edit and publish their school newspapers. In retrospect, it was pretty awesome. Once or twice a month we got to be the Constance Praters or Neil Shine’s of our day. At the time Louise was the Associate Publisher. When I was looking for a school she suggested I come to FAMU – so I did.
LDC: What was it like going to school there?
KM: I really enjoyed Tallahassee. I had some of the greatest adventures of my life there. Student murdered outside my dorm room. State witness in a capital murder case. One on one interviews with the local grand dragon of the KKK on the steps of the Capitol during one of their rallies. Getting to work on media campaigns to convince President George H. Walker Bush to jump out of an airplane to convince Florida’s retirees to become FULLY ENGAGED in their golden years while working for Gov. Bush. Creating heritage trails and getting to interview DES survivors. There was the excitement of working for the Gov during the 2000 elections. And the strangeness of coming face to face with fellow students while working for that same Gov during a major sit-in in response to the dissolution of Affirmative Action. And then there was the Carl Hiaasen like happenings of living in town – like hanging with tech media giant Merlin Mann – who at the time would dress up like a gorilla and play the piano at the local watering hole called WaterWorks. Or the time Mann’s Gorilla wrestled a man dressed as a giant carrot in a public park in a feats of strength during a Festivus celebration. Good times.
LDC: Wow! So then how did you make the leap from there to becoming an award winning producer?
KM: In fact, I didn’t really intend to do anything film related at all. So, I moved to New York and had every intention of pursuing a masters at NYU – creative non-fiction in the Creative Writing department. And then I took a screenwriting class – just for fun. And I loved it! Got the bug. And I knocked and banged on any and every opportunity until someone gave me a shot. What I discovered is that producing a film is a lot like putting together a news package. And you really do need every skill you learn along the way; fundraising, networking, governmental affairs – reporting.
LDC: What were some of the shows you worked on and how were they received?
KM: I worked on feature length documentaries and short narrative fiction. I think one of the biggest heartbreaks for me was working on director Melinda Janko’s excellent documentary Broken Trust: Cobell v. United States. It was a $50 billion, 25 year class action lawsuit against the United States by a group of Native Americans who were demanding their legal land rights back. The United States had entered into a lease agreement with them. And the US broke it. So, they rightfully asked for it back. And could do so legally. But, now we have timber lands, factories, oil fields, etc. on the land so the US basically said they’d have to sue. So they did. Seriously amazing filmmaking. Incredibly important topic. And, I never cried and prayed so much. I think I beat on every door I could to get the finishing funds. And Melinda practically went broke. And it never got released. Melinda is still out there banging on doors to get it seen. When you win, it’s way more fun. I think the most fun I had was working on the short film that won at the Emiriates Film Festival – Petra 2025 AD. With a budget of $100 dollars we made an incredible short Orwellian film about what happens when you lose your basic right to information.
LDC: Fascinating. I also know that you have also been a strategic communications adviser in the past with some pretty impressive organizations. What advice do you have for women looking to do similar work that you do for NGOs and for the National Trust?
KM: Just do it! Presently, I work with and advise The Smallest Seed and international NGO with projects in Africa, Central Asia, China — among the many projects they have. I am a strategic consultant and adviser for the Board. This past year I went to Kenya to meet some of the girls we house and educate – most of whom had risked their lives to escape the female genital mutilation and early forced marriages. These girls are so young and so precious. Some middle school and high school girls. Some who came to us when they were as young as 8 years old. It’s so humbling to realize that there is more out there in the world than yourself. I spent sometime in Afghanistan, which is part of the inspiration behind Roscoe.tv for me, and I just remember being in the most remote parts of the mountains in the north and the locals had mobile phones. My gosh – what if they had access to information? What if they could self-report? What if the NG’s could tell their stories? What if the women could really tell their stories – in their own words? Just do it! I think where we get it wrong is that we think that we have to go all over the world.
The best time I ever had was teaching Sunday School to a bunch of teenage girls in an immigrant Arab neighborhood in Newark, NJ. It was way out of the way. And I needed translation help. I took and organized Arabic classes. I wanted to do it. So, I did what I needed to make it happen. They’re my girls and they’re in college now. I love that! I love that the biggest impact and influence I may ever have in this lifetime are with the girls I am honored and privileged to call little sisters.
LDC: What was it that led you to this route after being a producer, though?
KM: Honestly, it wasn’t the “next” thing. All of the volunteer work I’ve done, or service work, or mission work I’ve done has just been a natural progression of what I’ve always done. I’ve been socially active since high school. I organized rallys and marches against the gang violence and shootings that were happening in the DPS back then. And, I don’t remember not feeling like there must be a cry and a voice against every possible injustice. I think that was one of the reasons I wanted to be a journalist. I would read Louise’s columns and recognize my friends and neighbors – a whole city in crisis. And I wanted to speak for them. At one point I wanted to be a public health reporter and I wrote a story about a family that got suckered into the American dream of suburban living, but a whole community was dying of cancer because their beautiful babbling brooks were built on toxic waste. Who would speak for them?
When I made the leap from reporting to government to non-profit, it was the same principle – when we raze our cultural heritage and our history – who will speak for us? The truth? A lot of what’s happening now is revisionist. Even in media. It’s entertainment and revisionist. Reporters afraid to call out politicians. Where’s the analysis and context? Where’s the data to support what you’re reporting on? When was the last time someone reported accurately what went down at the school board meeting?
LDC: How are you now applying all this wonderful experience now to mobile development at Roscoe Labs and for Roscoe.tv?
KM: From a strategic development perspective, one of the single most important things that I have learned along the way is how socially active people are with the “news,” however they define it, and their mobile phones.
So, it’s taking this experiential knowledge and combing through the data, looking at behavioral patterns, and leveraging relationships to formulate a direction for our platform. People want to, and do, actively engage in the news that’s important to them in the places where they live. Today, injustice, sport, and death are the primary reasons people will report or engage with a platform that gives them an opportunity to “speak” out on behalf of one of these topics.
LDC: What’s a typical day like for you at work?
KM: We are a fully engaged start-up. I begin each day by reading the local news. Here in New York and also in other places. I reach out to reporters of the smallest daily presses to talk about how they interact with their mobile. A few months ago I began talking to a reporter at the Barrington Times, part of the Eastbay RI papers. I tackle tech news. I go out and interview local merchants about their web presence and what their plans are for mobile commerce if any. We have daily team meetings. Hack around on our software that we’re building. Look for funding opportunities. And then I do keep my mentors and advisers updated on our progress.
LDC: Who are some of your clients? What’s the biggest challenge you face with them?
KM: Our client is you – the user. We are launching and testing our beta so the more feedback we get, the better. So, to date, one of our challenges is making sure that we have a critical mass of users to provide us with the necessary feedback to make our product better. And aside from money, which is every start ups’ “biggest challenge,” it is getting people to rethink the classic ad models around news. I believe that no new innovation can be tied to a proven failed model. So, when we say our revenue model is not ad dependent, it really raises eyebrows. Because, we’re a news platform, right?
LDC: What’s your greatest hope for both Roscoe and black women in mobile?
KM: I hope to see more black women in mobile development. You have to be completely self-motivated. I’m taking advantage of every possible course, class, seminar, and person willing to talk to me about the future of mobile. I’m learning how to code. At the beginning I was learning game theory and physics. I honestly thought I’d need a doctorate of engineering three times in order to jump in. But, you just have to jump in.
I’m challenged to ask how do we interact with the places we live? How is this applicable to the platform we’re building? So, I hope that there will be more black women in tech and that we’ll not limit our entree into this arena because we don’t have a computer science degree from Stanford.
As for Roscoe.tv this year, I’m looking forward to a successful launch in New York, San Francisco, Austin, Chicago and some other target markets. I look forward to strategic partnerships with a venture firm that shares our passion for news and our near zealous drive to create new models to support it.
Be sure and watch for the next installment. In the meantime, keep up with tech news and more via my website
http://www.ldcoleman.com and/or follow me on Twitter @mediaempress
