Rita Omokha

Rita Omokha is an award-winning Nigerian American writer and journalist in New York City. Her writing on race and culture has appeared in Cosmopolitan, Elle, The Daily Beast, Glamour, National Geographic, Teen Vogue, USA TODAY, Vanity Fair, The Washington Post and WIRED. Her reporting has also been featured on major networks such as CNN and MSNBC. Omokha’s enterprise projects include Elle’s "America Redefined" and Vanity Fair’s "They Were Sons," which examine race in America and police violence against communities of color.

Omokha received an M.S. from Columbia Journalism School, where she graduated at the top of the 2020 class, receiving some of the institution's highest awards, including the Pulitzer Prize Traveling Fellowship, the Lynton Foundation Award in Book Writing and the Bill Campbell Award. During her time at the Journalism School, she served as co-president of the African Student Association, which spotlighted the intersection of journalism, press freedom and the African diaspora. Omokha previously worked in digital media for CNN, NBC and Viacom and served in AmeriCorps in 2013.

She is the founder and executive director of Her Climb, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2025, dedicated to expanding college access, career exposure, and leadership development for underserved public high school girls through rigorous, long-term programming centered on access, wellness, and career pathways. Her Climb’s programming is hosted at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Omokha published her critically acclaimed debut book, "Resist: How a Century of Young Black Activists Shaped America," a Publishers Weekly top 10 highly anticipated fall book of history, in November 2024.