Who is Doni Glover?
Donald Morton “Doni” Glover is the CEO of DMGlobal, a marketing and public relations firm he founded in 2002 after his stint concluded at Empower Baltimore Management Corporation (EBMC), the $100 million dollar federally-funded Empowerment Zone charged with helping transform parts of East and West Baltimore. There, he served for three years as a public information specialist. Prior to that, Glover was Editor-in-chief of the Sandtown-Winchester VIEWPOINT Newspaper, a community-oriented publication that reached the 72-square-blocks of this Historic West Baltimore community, from 1994 to 2000.
A Ronald E. McNair Honors graduate from Coppin State University with a Bachelor’s degree in English: Media Arts: Broadcast Production and Technology, Glover actually began his academic career at Morehouse College. At present, he is working to complete his Master’s in International Affairs at Morgan State University. His ultimate academic goal is obtaining his Ph.D.
For the past two decades, the award-winning journalist’s star in the world of media has certainly risen. With over 20 years of news talk hosting under his belt at Radio One Baltimore’s WOLB 1010 AM, Glover has since taken his show to the web via YouTube and Facebook. Speaking of which, Glover has clearly demonstrated how social media can propel one’s reach to a modest 211,000 followers.
In any event, Glover has used his platforms, including his flagship, www.bmorenews.com, to highlight and bring attention to the developments in the Black community as they unfold. While Bmorenews’ primary news beat is Baltimore City, it also covers major Black enclaves, including northwest Baltimore County, Howard County, Prince George’s County, the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and Washington, D.C. Further, Glover has covered news across the country, including three dozen visits to the White House, as well as on-the-ground news coverage from Ethiopia, Tanzania, Jordan, Jamaica and Canada.
Bmorenews’ agenda has always been the same: Black business, public education, ex-offender services, affordable housing and universal access to healthcare. With that in mind, most every major politician in the state has been featured on Bmorenews, which boasts a YouTube library of over 4,000 original clips.
Since the onset of Bmorenews, Glover has hosted business networking events across the region. What started off as the Harambee Dinner Club eventually morphed into the Joe Manns Black Wall Street Awards, designed to celebrate Black entrepreneurs and professionals as well as the people who support them regardless of race. To date, over 1,700 individuals have been recognized in 6 US cities: New York, Baltimore, Washington D.C., Richmond, Atlanta and New Orleans. Furthermore, Glover has hosted two Annual National Black Wall Street Summits (2018 & 2019).
It should also be noted that Glover has been active in Maryland politics since 1998. Further, he has helped advise a number of winning political candidates on the local, state and federal levels. And he has also provided political analysis on local television networks since 2000.
Quoted in a number of publications over the years, Glover was blessed with his first national television appearance on TV One’s Roland Martin Show. Not long after, the tragic death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore thrust Glover more into the national spotlight as he appeared on CNN twice with Carol Costello and Sonny Hostin. In addition, Glover was interviewed by a host of national and international news outlets, including Spanish TV.
The author of “Unapologetically Black: Doni Glover Autobiography” (2015), Glover is currently working on his second book. This new book covers, among topics, Tulsa’s Black Wall Street which is due shortly to commemorate 100 years since the horrific destruction of this jewel community May 31-June 1, 2021.
Also of note, in the middle of COVID-19, Glover launched www.harlembusinessjournal.com. This is the result of collaborative efforts with two business groups in Harlem, WEG and the Harlem Business Alliance. Both of these business advocacy entities push for increased and improved opportunities for Black businesses. Collectively, this group formed the Black Business Empowerment Commission to bring much-needed attention to the plight of Black businesses amidst a Presidential election year as well as COVID-19.
“I would say my biggest passion is helping the plight of America’s Black-owned businesses,” he said. “Nationally, we have $1.4 trillion in annual disposable income. To me, that says that regardless of what political party is in power, we have enough resources to fix any problems we might have. And that’s exactly why telling the world about our Black Wall Street history nationally is so important to me. If our ancestors were able to survive lynching, murder, rape and terror and still build successful Black business communities, then we literally have no excuse today – no matter what we think. Otherwise, we are like beggars sitting on bags of gold!”
You can catch Glover on Thursdays at midnite on “Hiphop Chronicles” with Mike Nyce on Morgan State’s WEAA 88.9 FM. Each week, he gives the Bmorenews Report on developments in the community, including updates on City Hall and Annapolis. Glover first appeared on WEAA in 1980 at the age of 15 with community leader Charlie Dugger. He has also hosted his own show for a time there called ‘One Mic’.
Glover said he strives to live by his father’s motto: “With a closed hand, nothing gets in and nothing gets out. With an open hand, there are endless possibilities. The moral to the story is ‘Help somebody’!”
On that note, Glover is active in his community and works with a number of organizations throughout the year that are making a difference, including James Mosher Baseball, Black Professional Men, the Men’s Center of East Baltimore, the Bea Gaddy Center, UMAR Boxing, Choo Smith Youth Empowerment, Gregory Branch’s Annual Legends Tournament at the Dome, and the Historic Pennsylvania Avenue Parade.
Glover’s father was Donald Edward Glover. His mother was Lillie Juanita James Glover. The family owned Glover’s Funeral Home in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, first at Patterson Park and Lanvale, then 712-714 E. North Avenue, and lastly at 802 Madison Avenue. It was there that the entrepreneurial bug was birthed in him. While his parents are both deceased, Glover is the very proud father of one son, Asaan, and one daughter, N’yinde’ Amaari. He is also a grandfather to Amari (grandson) and Satori (granddaughter). And his beloved German Shepherd is named Pharaoh.