Early in her media career, Dr. Jamie Foster Brown worked at the nation’s first successfully owned and operated African American television station, Black Entertainment Television (BET). While with BET, Brown worked as an advertising secretary. The few other magazines that focused on African American recording artists, models and actors and actresses, and which also earned their way onto the national landscape include Right On! and Black Beat magazines. That was in the 1970s when Michael Jackson and his brothers, the Silvers, O’Jays, Diana Ross, Temptations and the Ohio Players were riding high on the pop and soul music charts.
Sister 2 Sister Magazine’s Unique Appeal
Akin to its predecessors, Sister 2 Sister mainly interviews popular recording artists across rhythm and blues, jazz, gospel, rap and pop genres. Dr. Jamie Foster Brown, owner of Sister 2 Sister, adds a uniquely personal flavor to her magazine which is available at grocery stores, WalMart and bookstores around the country.
In a recent issue, she went into rap artist’s T.I. and his girlfriend Tiny’s house in Atlanta, Georgia. The interview and the photos were taken prior to T.I.’s start on his one year and one day prison sentence. The only other media outlet that got equally as close to the internationally successful rap artist as Sister 2 Sister was MTV, which televised the successful “Road to Redemption”.
Throughout the magazine’s pages, feature interviews read like private conversations shared between two friends. During their public marriage, Brown landed insightful interviews with both Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown. A supporter of both artists, Brown never took sides; she simply let Whitney and Bobby tell their own story.
Dr. Jamie Foster Brown has covered sides of former heavyweight boxing champion, Mike Tyson, that other journalists missed. Because of her forthrightness with readers and entertainers, at a time when many celebrities are reluctant to let the media get closer than the basketball court, baseball field or recording studio, Brown is given entrance to private arenas in the lives of the rich and famous. She has been referred to as the Barbara Walters of print. It is easy to see why.
Accolades for Sister 2 Sister Magazine and Dr. Jamie Foster Brown
On August 18, 1988 Dr. Jamie Foster Brown was named in the Congressional Record as a leading woman in entertainment journalism. Brown has been mentioned in People, USA Today, and Entertainment Weekly. The magazine owner received her graduate degree from the University of Stockholm in 2008. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Brown’s personal successes could be a reason that Sister 2 Sister covers two business women who are pioneers in their industry in each issue.
With the bulk of Sister 2 Sister’s subscriber and off-the-shelf reader base being under 30 years of age, the magazine’s columns such as Who Does She Think She Is teach young adults the value of setting clear goals, gaining an education and taking the necessary risks to achieve one’s dreams. People who enjoy the magazine live in impoverished and depressed neighborhoods, up-and-coming urban areas, middle class suburbs and high end gated communities. Brown has a broad reach and the ability to influence millions of people’s lives, a fact she does not take lightly and which she often notes in her monthly opening editorial and closing remarks.
Recently, the magazine added a section that focuses on books and literature, a welcomed addition that rounds out Sister 2 Sister’s monthly offerings. Other sections of the magazine include Dr. Jeff Gardere’s relationship advice column, overview of car safety and auto offerings, coverage on popular gospel recording artists and tidbits of gossip on hot entertainers. Her husband, Lorenzo Brown, is the magazine’s managing editor.
Artists and political leaders who have been featured in the magazine include, President and First Lady Barak and Michelle Obama, Mary J. Blige, Whitney Houston, Rapper T. I., Tiny, Nas, Keisha Cole, former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson, Aretha Franklin, Natalie Cole, Johnny Gill, Flava Flav, tennis champion Serena Williams and Megan Good.
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