Shamontiel L. Vaughn
Digital News Editor
My Role
Shamontiel L. Vaughn joined the Chicago Tribune's team on October 11, 2010. Currently she's the Digital News Editor for Media on Demand's (MoD) National Health and Travel sections, in addition to working on the Breaking News desk, updating News, Sports and Entertainment. (Previously, she was a blogger for CT's Taking Off travel blog, an editor for The Stew food blog and worked on CT's Food & Dining section. She was also the producer for the 2010-2011 live health chats and wrote book reviews for the Arts & Entertainment section.)
My Biography
Shamontiel (Shuh mawn T L) became the Message from Montie blogger on ChicagoNow.com in October 2009. She's had work published in Yahoo! Contributor Network, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! TV, TheFrisky, AT&T, HyPa Chicago and Examiner; and print publications like Underlined Magazine, Fate magazine, The DePaulia, Spoken Vizions magazine, the Chicago Defender and Chicago Tribune. She's also the author of two novels, "Change for a Twenty" and "Round Trip."
My Interests
TV: Don't talk to me during "The Voice (Season 4)" "Scandal," "PBS Frontline," "Real Time With Bill Maher," "Windy City Live," "Chicago Fire," "VEEP," and "House of Lies." I won't hear a word you said. I'm also counting down the days until "The Originals" so I can continue to be amused by Klaus' antics. My guilty pleasures are "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" and "Love & Hip-Hop." (Yes, you can judge me for that. I'll laugh and watch it anyway.)
Movies: There is no movie I like more than "Higher Learning," but there are some close calls. I love anything about HBCU life, which is the reason I'm still so obsessed with "A Different World." But no matter how many times "The Bourne" movies come on, I watch them like they're brand new. Same goes for the "Iron Man" series.
Music: Since 2010, I've developed a huge interest in country music. My favorites are Brad Paisley, Blake Shelton, Jerrod Niemann and Taylor Swift (although she's more pop). I'm a big fan of lyrical hip-hop (Yasiin Bey aka Mos Def), old school hip-hop (Big Daddy Kane and MC Lyte) but I enjoy a few mainstream artists (Jay-Z, Nas and Drake). I'll listen to pretty much anything in the traditional R&B and neo-soul market (no one tops Marvin Gaye), and I like jazz every now and then.
Books: My favorite authors are Karen Siplin and Langston Hughes. However, I have entirely too many book recommendations to list. Visit my website and look under "Shamontiel's Bookshelf." Every time I find a book I like, I list it there.
Other interests? Follow me on Pinterest (where I'm always hanging out). Visit my website and click "Shamontiel's Favorites" to see all of my favorite topics on those boards.
Movies: There is no movie I like more than "Higher Learning," but there are some close calls. I love anything about HBCU life, which is the reason I'm still so obsessed with "A Different World." But no matter how many times "The Bourne" movies come on, I watch them like they're brand new. Same goes for the "Iron Man" series.
Music: Since 2010, I've developed a huge interest in country music. My favorites are Brad Paisley, Blake Shelton, Jerrod Niemann and Taylor Swift (although she's more pop). I'm a big fan of lyrical hip-hop (Yasiin Bey aka Mos Def), old school hip-hop (Big Daddy Kane and MC Lyte) but I enjoy a few mainstream artists (Jay-Z, Nas and Drake). I'll listen to pretty much anything in the traditional R&B and neo-soul market (no one tops Marvin Gaye), and I like jazz every now and then.
Books: My favorite authors are Karen Siplin and Langston Hughes. However, I have entirely too many book recommendations to list. Visit my website and look under "Shamontiel's Bookshelf." Every time I find a book I like, I list it there.
Other interests? Follow me on Pinterest (where I'm always hanging out). Visit my website and click "Shamontiel's Favorites" to see all of my favorite topics on those boards.