Antwane Folk is a busy guy. 

He describes himself as “dedicated, hardworking, and passionate.” He likes to always give 100 percent in everything he does. He is the opposite of lazy.

Folk graduated in 2012 from the J-school with a major in public relations. He was part of the Fashion Board USC club, allowing him to work with different personalities. 

As an outside activity while at the J-school, he ran a Facebook page about American singer-songwriter Mary J Blige, promoting her upcoming album. Folk increased the online presence to 20,000 likes and averaged weekly engagement of more than 500,000 users. It was the spark that ignited his career.

Approaching graduation, he felt pressure because he didn’t have a job lined up. One day while scrolling through Twitter (now X), he saw a music publication, Rated R&B, that was looking for interns. He applied — his Facebook page was a big factor in earning the internship in 2013. He rose quickly, becoming an editorialist. 

Since then, he has written over 5,000 articles and has interviewed musicians and artists including Brandy, Mary J. Blige, Maxwell and many more. His work has been cited in publications such as Pitchfork, Vogue Paris and Page 6.

Music is a strong passion for Folk — with influences of hip-hop, gospel and R&B from his parents, he fell in love with music at an early age. He loves to tell the stories of artists in his articles. Throughout his time at Rated R&B, he has built relationships and connections with people behind the scenes like publicists, producers and songwriters.

One of his annual pieces is predicting the winners for Grammy Awards in R&B categories, eventually leading to becoming a member of the Grammy Recording Academy, completing a strenuous application process requiring recommendations. 

“Already having relationships with those behind the scenes… I was able to get recommendations pretty quickly,” Folk says. The process took about six to nine months. As a member, he recommends artists for certain awards.

Aside from being an editorialist, Folk also works for the Arts and Science Council in Charlotte, North Carolina — a nonprofit organization that supports creatives. His job is to process grants to support these artists. He has worked at the council for four years, since 2019.

In the future, he would like to become a mentor, because he didn’t have one. 

“I wish I took more time to slow down… sometimes things happen for a reason, but there are some things I would do differently. And I wished I had a mentor.” 

He wants to be a part of someone’s future.