Screen Time with Equality Florida's Nadine Smith
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photo: Equality Florida
Nadine Smith is a badass journalist turned badass organizer — now the executive director of Equality Florida, the state’s largest LGBTQ political advocacy group.
- She lives in St. Petersburg with her wife, Andrea, and 9-year-old son, Logan.
So how does one of Florida’s "Most Powerful and Influential Women" interact with tech?
Device of choice: iPhone 11.
First tap of the day: iCal. "I get up pretty early (around 5:30 or so) and check the calendar to figure out what's been added and canceled on my schedule."
Go-to news sources: "The Tampa Bay Times, Florida Politics, The Washington Post, New York Times, and whatever articles friends forward to me. When I’m not looking for breaking news, one of my favorite places is Brain Pickings. They always have kind of cool, obscure articles.”
On rotation: Battle rap from favorites RBE, 40barrs, Ms. Fit and Loaded Lux.
- "My love for battle rap emerges from my love for Shakespeare. ... It’s not just insults. It’s the lyricism, it’s the cadence, it’s the performance, it’s the insight."
- "There’s a lot of battle rap I can't stand ... but some that’s really sublime. I’m willing to wade through the bad stuff to get to the ether. I can’t watch 'Wild 'n Out.' It’s like watching an eagle eat out of the dumpster."
Podcast of choice: Anything featuring Woniya Thibeault of Buckskin Revolution, or on earth skills.
- "I say earth skills because they come from a different place. Your ancestral origins versus that bunker mentality of individual survival. I want skills to help people."
Most used app: Spark for email.
Reading list: Via audiobook, "A Promised Land" by President Barack Obama, "The Purpose of Power" by Alicia Garza and "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates.
- "Periodically, I like to read 'A Wrinkle in Time.’' It’s one of those transformational books from my childhood."
This story first appeared in the Axios Tampa Bay newsletter, designed to help readers get smarter, faster on the most consequential news unfolding in their own backyard.