Cincinnati native Jeffonia “Ebony J” Wynn is a radio personality, DJ, host, entrepreneur and now founder and CEO of the first Black-owned media learning center in Greater Cincinnati.
Wynn has never let any barrier get in her way or determine her success. She was diagnosed with dyslexia as a child but didn’t let that stop her from using her words to build her community. Now, after 15 years of working in the media industry, Wynn has added another accolade to her title, becoming the first Black woman to own and operate a media education center in Cincinnati. Despite any challenges put in her way, Wynn works hard.
Wynn was introduced to the industry in high school. As a high school student, she participated in The DJ for a Day program at local radio station The Wiz, where she went on to have a 15-year career as an on-air personality at The Wiz. However, she’s kept up her popularity throughout Greater Cincinnati by always being a trusted source for her community through promotions, partnerships and supporting Cincinnati’s own.
The Ebony J Media Learning Center opened in November of 2023. The center is run and managed by Wynn, who is the CEO, and COO Ronald Miller. The media center offers summer and after-school programs to students, as well as adult courses for entrepreneurs and business owners. The course options include podcasting, learning how to DJ, vocal engineering and more. The Ebony J Media Learning Center curriculum is sought after by many Cincinnati grade schools like Hughes STEM High School and North College Hill High School.
Though Wynn has made her mark in media over the years, this new chapter is allowing her to stick with her love for media while also following her passion for teaching. “From a little girl that’s all I practiced doing,” Wynn says. “Yes, being on the radio was me using my voice, but I’ve always wanted to be a teacher.”
“She’s always been outgoing in all kinds of things,” Kimberly Bonds, Chief Financial Officer of the Ebony J Media Learning Center and mother of Wynn, says. “She’s always been active. I would say to anybody: Keep your kids active, whatever they want to do. Just be there for them and let them do what they’re going to do because you never know who you might be raising.”
Wynn knew who she was at an early age. “I’ve always wanted to be a teacher. That’s never not been the goal.”
“At 8 o’clock, everyone would go to bed, kids in the bed, so she would go back in her room and pull out her stuffed animals and books and teach her stuffed animals like she was really teaching a class,” Bonds says. Wynn also grew up in church, where she became director of the youth and adult choir as a child. The signs to her future were clear, but the journey was all on Wynn. “I’ve always said I wanted to retire as a teacher and open my own school. Having a school is a lot of work and it’s a lot of different processes to it,” Wynn says. “I can’t do a school right now.”
Opening a school would take a lot more than Wynn anticipated, but she didn’t let that stop her from finding a loophole. “My co-founder (Ronald Miller), he noticed everything I was doing and he was like, ‘Why don’t you have a space for this?” Wynn says. Then the idea was sparked.
The media learning center is currently offering a course called Media Coin Academy, which is a program for podcasters, speakers, influencers and entrepreneurs who are looking to master their craft and build a profit. In this course, students learn marketing and branding skills, business development, crisis management and all things centered around the foundation of one’s business or brand, not specific to just media. The best part about this 12-week program is that it’s offered to anyone who owns a business.
Another popular program at the media center is the Media After School program. This course is specifically for children ages 14-18, and the program lasts for eight weeks and ends with a graduation ceremony for the students. In the after-school program, students are encouraged to focus on their craft in podcasting, DJ and music mixing or audio production and writing. This course is meant as a creative program for students where they can get hands-on multimedia experience.
The Ebony J Media Learning Center prides itself on not only being a resource that prepares students for the media industry but also as the place that connects them with job opportunities and career exploration. Jeremy Sims, a student who graduated from the summer program, is currently a staff member at the media center working as a producer. “It’s crazy because I get paid to do something I actually like doing,” Sims says. “Being in a school where I get paid to teach and learn more about the business of music is very enlightening and I really like it.”
Wynn says her mission for the media center was always very clear to her: to train the next generation of media professionals. Many people have a hard time finding jobs in their desired profession due to industry experience requirements, and this was a feeling Wynn related to and wanted to do something about. “The goal is to continue to train young people to carry the torch of doing what I do so that way they can go out and teach and train others,” Wynn says.
Mykell Midel is a student in the DJ program. “Although it was never a passion or anything for me, when I walked in and I saw it and saw her, I had to be here, I had to have it,” Midel says. Midel described his first time at the media center as illuminating — so much so that he decided to join the Media After School program immediately and said he has loved every minute of it. Midel also mentioned how Wynn puts such an emphasis on the fact that no one can take your skill away from you. “I was an inner city youth born and raised in Evanston,” Wynn says. “It’s very important for me to go back to where I come from and let those people know that this is how we can be saved.”
Enoch “DJ Mazeratinoc” Morgan, a former radio personality from The Wiz, describes the media center as a staple in the community. Morgan teaches DJ courses at the center. He’s had a front row seat to Wynn’s growth in the media industry as he’s been a mentor to the media mogul since her beginning days at The Wiz. Morgan says that their relationship is proof of how important it is to stick together in this industry. “Once you have a mentee-mentor relationship and they get to the level of boom, they’re doing it,” Morgan says. “The whole 360 is dope.”
Throughout her career, Wynn has made it her pride and joy to connect with her community. Schools all over Greater Cincinnati, like Wynn’s alma mater, Hughes STEM High School, Mt. Healthy High School and North College Hill High School, have reached out to Wynn about incorporating some type of extracurricular course she could bring to their institution. The schools are becoming more interested in including activities and programs that can be beneficial and help set the students up for success beyond high school. Wynn currently teaches Media Coin Academy at North College Hill, Podcast Academy at Mt. Healthy every Monday and she is instructing the students at Hughes on how to run their media department and clubs on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
The Alloy building located in Norwood is home to the Ebony J Media Learning Center. Established in 2023, the media company, in the beginning, only occupied three of the fourth-floor office spaces. Within the first year of operations, Wynn has made major expansions, now occupying the entire fourth floor of the multi-use space. This expansion means more space for students and staff.
The media learning center is now operating at full capacity. Wynn says it first felt surreal opening the media center and now, to see how it’s grown just a year later, she knows she made the right decision following her true passion. “I love the authenticity we have here, the realness. Those are the things that give me the passion to do this,” Wynn says. “Because I know they’re watching to learn.”
For more information about the Ebony J Media Learning Center, visit msebonyj.com.
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This article appears in Mar 19 – Apr 2, 2025.