Leila Wills, Publisher

Leila Wills is a media professional whose work has centered on black history. She is a business owner, journalist, and publisher of the Metropolis newspaper, which is based in Chicago’s oldest black neighborhood. Her stories highlight social justice issues, small businesses, and black history in America and Chicago.

As a producer and filmmaker, she produces multimedia projects, and one of her rough-draft projects garnered over 1,000,000 views. Leila has worked as a contractor for HBO, Universal Music, Arista, BMG, Bad Boy, MCA, Time Magazine, and other media companies in New York and Los Angeles. As a ghostwriter, she has authored several books and her articles have been published in the Chicago Tribune and Crain’s Chicago Business. Leila is a member of New York Women in Film and Television, the Chicago History Museum, Landmarks Illinois, and Chicago’s NPR station WBEZ. She traveled with Barack Obama during his historic presidential campaign and was the only black newspaper to travel with him to the Democratic Convention in 2008. Leila is the media director for a Chicago area nonprofit that focuses on at-risk youth.

Leila’s parents were in the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party and her passion is producing material based on the Chapter’s history. She has worked with several members of the Party and never learns enough.