Candace Owens is a conservative writer, producer, and commentator who attempted to launch SocialAutopsy.com in 2016, a website she said would expose bullies on the Internet. Owens gained further recognition in April 2018, when Kanye West tweeted “I love the way Candace Owens thinks.” The Tweet led to a meeting between the two on April 29, 2018.
Owens was born to an African American family and was raised in Stamford, Connecticut. She graduated from Stamford High School, although not without controversy. When she was a senior in 2007, Owers received threatening racist phone calls. The calls were eventually traced to a car in which the son of Governor Dannel Malloy was in. Owens’ family sued the Stamford Board of Education in federal court alleging that the city did not protect her rights, resulting in a $37,500 settlement.
Following high school, Owens graduated with a B.A. in journalism from the University of Rhode Island. Following college, Owens got a job at Vogue magazine. After Vogue, she took a job as an administrative assistant for a private equity firm in 2012. Three years later, Owens quit her job at the private equity firm to found the website Degree180, which creates Internet content targeted at millennials.
In 2017, Owens launched Red Pill Black, a website and YouTube channel that promotes conservatism to a black American audience. On November 21, 2017, at the MAGA Rally and Expo in Rockford, Illinois, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk announced her appointment as their director of urban engagement.