Before the DMs, There Was Flo Anthony

When I heard that Flo Anthony had passed, I found myself trying to remember the first time we met.

The truth is, I can't.

What I do know is that our paths crossed more than once. Backstage at the BET Awards. On a television set waiting for talent. At a movie junket where publicists hurried celebrities from one interview to the next. The years have blurred together.

What hasn't faded is the feeling of that era.

Before social media, before digital press rooms, entertainment journalism was built on relationships. You recognized familiar faces in every city. Publicists knew which reporters would show up early and respect an embargo. Journalists knew which publicists kept their word. If you worked the entertainment beat long enough, it became a community.

Flo Anthony was one of those familiar faces.

She moved through those rooms with the confidence of someone who had earned her place. She understood something many people have forgotten: access wasn't just about credentials. It was about credibility.

Back then, publicity was driven by phone calls. Handwritten notes. Breakfast meetings. Late night conversations after the cameras were packed away. The best stories came from those moments. Flo understood that better than almost anyone.

TRUST

She built a career on trust. Artists trusted her. Publicists trusted her. Editors trusted her. That kind of reputation couldn't be manufactured. It was earned over decades, one relationship at a time.

For Black women journalists especially, seeing Flo in those spaces mattered. She wasn't asking for permission to be there. She had already claimed her seat.

Some journalists leave behind bylines. Flo Anthony left behind an entire way of doing the work — built on trust, respect, and the understanding that the strongest stories have always begun with a conversation.

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