Angie Nwandu launched The Shade Room in 2014 as a side hustle. Today, that side hustle, which has grown from an Instagram-only celebrity tabloid to a media company with a staff of 40, reaches 29 million social media obsessives by tapping into their drama-devouring appetite.
The Shade Room pioneered a unique, if somewhat innovative, brand of digital media, fusing elements of fan culture around the celebrity news machine (Room with shadow (Regulars are called Roomies.) More than a gossip paper or news aggregator, TSR became a clearinghouse for “the culture,” says Nwandu, “but also a reflection of it and a voice for it. We are known as a megaphone.”
The platform’s main focus is the fragile world of black celebrities. Want to know who NFL quarterback Jalen Hurts is? I committed to or why Naomi Campbell has Beef with Rihanna? You may be wondering why a woman from Louisville claims Did Kanye West “telegraph” him to allegedly steal a vehicle with a child inside? TSR explains.
I recently got on the phone with Nwandu to talk about The Shade Room’s controversial influence and the legacy it wants to leave behind. The platform has been slowly branching out into different areas of coverage — politics, investigative journalism, spirituality — and she says it’s all part of a broader plan to move beyond celebrity gossip, which she describes as “exhausting.”
Nwandu hasn’t gotten to that point yet. The week we spoke, music mogul Diddy was arrested after a grand jury indicted him on charges including sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit racketeering (he’s pleaded not guilty), so we talked about that, too, and Nwandu was an open book.
JASON PARHAM: The Shade Room pioneered celebrity news-focused social media on Instagram. Today, there are hundreds of accounts doing the same thing you are doing. How does that make you feel?
ANGIE NWANDU: No one ever gives The Shade Room this recognition, but we presented a model that was able to be replicated. I’m friends with Shawn McKenzie (founder of The Spiritual Word) and Jason Lee (founder of Hollywood Unlocked), and we’ve had conversations. I’ve spoken to both of them and shared advice and recommendations. I’m glad to see that our model was able to inspire other Black media companies that are thriving in their own right. Seeing the success of all of these platforms is amazing to me. I’m actually really proud of it because who doesn’t want to start something that creates a ripple effect?
The Shade Room has never shied away from controversy, but I imagine there are editorial guidelines you follow. What don’t you publish?
If I say what stories, it would lose the actual purpose. I will say that what we don’t do is reveal to people their sexuality. A lot of people send us very racy stories where they reveal to other people. That’s something we stay away from. We were a little wild at first, but overall it’s something we’ve avoided. I’ve seen the damage that this does to people who aren’t ready to reveal their sexuality in that way. We’ve tried to stay away from invasion of privacy in certain areas.
But isn’t it called The Shadow Room for a reason?
We are trying to change what we post and move towards positivity. We used to post applause all day and we’ve stopped doing it. It’s been hard because our name is The Shade Room. If Diddy goes to jail, we have to put it out. But there’s a lot of stuff we won’t put out. It’s been a dance, for sure.
