Evolving Man Project

Welcome to the Evolving Man Project’s ‘Evolved Man of the Week’ profiles. Each week we will highlight an individual that embodies what it means to be an evolved man, famous and non-famous men alike. The world needs to know their stories and deeds. This week’s honor goes to Pittsburgh native, writer, author, contributing columnist and editor for GQ.com and Ebony Magazine, editor-in-chief and co-founder of Very Smart Brothas blog/website, and owner of one very enviable beard, Damon Young. 

Damon’s hip and often-witty articles cover a range of topics from #BlackLivesMatter to Madea Movies to interracial dating. Damon and his ensemble of writers at Very Smart Brothas offer readers an inside and sometimes light-hearted look into the mind of the average “bougie” Black man in the United States. The range of topics that are vigorously debated in barbershops or on #blacktwitter is never off-limits in Damon Young’s writing. Damon’s writing is a brilliant balance of pop-culture satire that meets the complexity of race in America with hilarious and insightful results. He’s also the author of the book titled, What Doesn’t Kill You, Make You Blacker: A Memoir in Essays.

Mr. Young was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania has a B.A. in English from Canisius College. His work has appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Huffington Post. He was one of the Root.com 100 Most Influential African Americans of 2016. He likes pancakes, pick-up games of b-ball and coined the term “Darth Becky.” Here is Damon in his own words:

A few years ago, Panama and I came up with the idea to write a book, which at that time was basically a dozen or so refurbished entries from our personal blogs. In 2008, got together with our mutual friend, tech and branding guru Liz Burr, to create VSB as a means to create a fan base so that when we finally finished the book, we’d have a consumer base

Today we honor Damon Young as our Evolved Man of the Week.