Niya "Skyy" Hogans - The Bold Maven™️

Niya Hogans, a Newark, New Jersey native with roots in Durham, North Carolina, discovered her passion for music and entertainment early on, cultivating a dream to impact the industry. A Mass Media Communications graduate from Clark Atlanta University, Niya embarked on her career journey with an internship at the NFL-sanctioned Superbowl Gospel Celebration and is now the founder of “Skyy Level Media,” an independent outlet that covers entertainment, news, pop culture, and boasts exclusive interviews with top artists like Lil Durk, 2Chainz, Eric Bellinger,Lola Brooks, Young Dolph and many more. As the CEO of Skyy Communications, established in 2017, Niya excels in public relations, brand management, event planning, and social media. Her strategic collaborations with talents such as Yung Bleu, Rotimi, Jacquees, Ivory Scott, and others have proven her dominance in the brand partnership world. Her successful endeavors have secured her media placements in esteemed outlets like The Real, Rolling Out Magazine, Bossip Mag, Sheen Mag, Essence Mag and VIBE Magazine. At 30, Niya, a female entrepreneur, manages two thriving companies while actively contributing to the entertainment industry, providing opportunities and shaping the careers of her colleagues in TV production, media, and PR.

Q: What does that mean, for you to be a Black woman in this industry?

A: For me, it means that I have to work extra hard to make sure that I’m opening the door for more women, more Black women, to be in that industry. I’m always looking for an opportunity where I can bring in an intern or an assistant. I just feel a lot of pressure, but it’s good pressure to get more of us in the door. So that’s a big part of why I do what I do is because I want to give opportunities and chances to other Black women who want to be in this field to experience that. So I want to make sure that I’m doing everything the right way. And also ensuring that I’m standing on my morals and values, with the way I handle my business being that I am in that percentile. So it’s a lot of work, it’s a lot of pressure, and I don’t take it lightly.

Q: What would you say is one misconception, about either working in the industry or just being in the industry in general, that you’d like to shed light on?

A: Good question! I’ll give you two. The first one, I would say is me working in marketing and PR. Having a background in public relations a lot of clients think, when they hire a publicist, or a brand manager/marketing consultant, that my company is going to be successful overnight. That’s like, the biggest misconception I think a lot of people have when it comes to that side of the industry. I’ve been in situations where I’ve went through a 90-day plan with my client, from A to Z, this is what we’re gonna do. These are the plans; that’s how it’s gonna happen. And after the 10th day, they’re like, ‘Hey, I don’t see results’, or, ‘I’m not growing.’ This is not an overnight thing. I think sometimes people underestimate the journey and trusting the process. Like, once you have a plan, that’s the first step. Now, can you stay committed to this plan? Can you fully execute this plan? A lot of people get lost in the actual work ethic part of chasing their dreams and reaching their goals.

So another thing I wanted to highlight was when you’re an entrepreneur and you work with clients. Some people may mistake you as being stern or mean but I don’t look at it as mean. I look at it as being very direct…knowing what you want, and not settling for BS, just to keep it transparent. Like, when you’re in this industry, you have to have a certain demeanor, you have to have a certain level of professionalism about you. So I’m very big on not being too overly friendly with clients, because at the end of the day, you’re not my friend, you’re my client, I have friends.

Q: You’ve described yourself as a serial entrepreneur. What has been your favorite endeavor thus far?

A: I’m gonna give you three. I guess the project that had me the most excited was the Girlboss Headquarters Popup Museum. That was a popup selfie museum where we had 10 exhibits. That might have been the fastest amount of money that I was able to make in a short period of time; we were only open for three months, and we got a six figure revenue from that. Everything I’ve done has been pretty much in a digital space but this is my first time having an actual physical store/location so I had an employee running the machines and checking people out and having to tag clothes and keep the museum clean. And also actually picking a vision from my head and giving that vision to my contracting team and to my art designers and seeing them build it out was a surreal moment for me. So I had fun and I really tapped into my creativity with that and then also just seeing how many girls attended that summer, we had over 3,000 women attend.

The second thing would probably be Black Music Moguls Bunch. That’s an annual brunch that I do every year where we honor people in the music community, black people of course, but people in the music industry. It could be executives, artists, just all around moguls. I normally pick people who don’t normally get their flowers and we highlight them, we celebrate them, we honor them. It’s a prestigious event that is a very elite, intimate event in Atlanta, only 150 people come but the 150 people that are in the room are the most prestigious people in Atlanta. So I look forward to doing that every year. We’re having our fifth annual will be June 9th this year so I’m super excited about that.

I also had a business called the Girlboss Starter Kit — I just revamped it. It’s called Ladies Business League now. It’s an online resource center and community for women in business. We do member events every month, we share resources and we help women get financial aid. We’re really just a community that’s resourceful to one another that helps guide and mentor each other through entrepreneurship.

Q: What do you consider to be your superpower?

A: I’ll say I have an extraordinary vision. So being able to actually visualize and actualize. I’m a superb planner as well, when it comes to execution. I’m not good at planning personal stuff, like parties and stuff but business planning…that is indeed one of my super powers..