Dana Scruggs

Words by Sam Rakestraw

“Black people don’t get opportunities because we’re Black—we get them despite the fact that we’re Black,” Dana Scruggs says on her Rolling Stone cover shoot two years ago. 

The “Year in Music” issue featured Astroworld rapper Travis Scott. The opportunity had taken Scruggs by surprise, having freelanced in photography for the last seven years. Job offers didn’t come in regularly to her, as multiple publications turned her down in the past. Fed up with no industry connections, Scruggs launched SCRUGGS Magazine in 2016, focusing editorials and visuals on the male form, specifically the Black male form. The physical, masculine presence is often her muse, and she aims to capture them the way she sees them rather than through blatant objectification. 

 Her cover shoot with Travis Scott was the first time a Black person shot the cover of Rolling Stone. Scruggs stresses that milestones such as these should be celebrated and reflected on. She earned the opportunity to shoot the cover from the merit of her own work and skill, not because of her race or the PR it could bring to Rolling Stone. The publication wasn't even aware she was the first until looking through their records. Someone had reached out to her because they had noticed her talent in her work with ESPN’s “BODY” Issue. Scruggs was also the first Black female photographer to shoot for this publication. 

The trailblazing Scruggs has done in the fashion and photography industry created a space for Black women with talent like her, since they are often ignored or not thought of in this line of work. Access has always been one of her biggest struggles; the rent of living in New York ate away at her finances while she took on extra jobs. SCRUGGS Magazine provided her with the platform she needed to break through as a foremost authority on fashion and lifestyle; a voice that could not be ignored.