Poynter, NABJ Announce Inaugural Class for Leadership Academy for Diversity in Digital Media

The 25 participants, chosen from a pool of more than 200 applicants, are emerging leaders in digital media who have demonstrated an aptitude and potential for leadership through current projects and references. The academy will include guidance on navigating newsroom culture, leadership styles, the business of journalism and entrepreneurship, as well as networking and one-on-one coaching.

"We're honored to bring so many talented journalists together in this much-needed initiative," said Poynter President Tim Franklin. "Poynter has always promoted best practices in media management, and this program allows us to work with NABJ to ensure diversity as one of journalism's highest leadership values."

"It's a privilege to work with the next generation of digital journalism leaders in this ground-breaking program," said NABJ President Sarah Glover. "When this outstanding group of journalists completes the week at Poynter, they will have the resources, network and skills for the work ahead -- to progress in their careers and to guide others along the path of leadership excellence."

The 2016 Poynter-NABJ Leadership Academy for Diversity in Digital Media is made possible through the generous support of the program's naming sponsor, The New York Times, as well as additional funding from Facebook, Google, the Scripps Howard Foundation and the TEGNA Foundation.

This year's class includes:

• Modupe Akinnawonu, associate product manager, The New York Times
• Darrell Allen, video graphics editor, The Associated Press
• Joshua Barajas, deputy online editor, PBS Newshour
• Jahna Berry, web editor, Mother Jones
• Zuri Berry, deputy managing editor, Boston Herald
• Juhie Bhatia, managing editor, Womens eNews
• Evette Brown, senior news and identity editor, Revelist
• Crystal Brown, director, editorial operations, She Knows Media
• Kim Bui, former deputy managing editor, reported.ly
• Rana Cash, freelance; former deputy editor, Sporting News
• Natasha Clark, publisher, Lioness Magazine
• Justin Ellis, senior editor, ESPN The Magazine
• Amber Ferguson, politics video editor, Huffington Post
• Michael Grant, senior digital designer, Star Tribune
• Lee Hill, managing editor, WNYC Digital
• Marcus Riley, director of digital media, WTMJ-TV-TMJ4.com
• Nicole Smith, senior digital features editor, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
• Monica Torres, freelance journalist
• Herman Wong, social media/growth editor, The Washington Post
• Lilly Workneh, senior editor, Black Voices, The Huffington Post
• Ameena Rasheed, community content specialist, The Des Moines Register
• Tanya Ballard-Brown, editor III, digital, NPR
• Shauna Stuart, fellow, The Southern Girls Project
• Amy Adkins Harris, digital communications officer, The World Bank
• Brandon Vaughn, digital content producer, Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.

Participants will spend Dec. 4-9 at The Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida. The week will be led by prominent leaders in the startup, tech, media and academic fields, including media strategist and startup adviser Ju-Don Marshall Roberts, formerly of the Center for Cooperative Media and The Washington Post; Mark Luckie, former head of journalism and media for Reddit; Donna Byrd, publisher of The Root and vice president of digital for Univision; Rashida Jones, managing editor, dayside, for MSNBC; and Mizell Stewart III, vice president of news operations for the USA TODAY Network and president of the American Society of News Editors. Other faculty include Poynter's Butch Ward and Al Tompkins.

The Poynter-NABJ program builds upon the dynamic ONA-Poynter Leadership Academy for Women, which has offered training to the best and the brightest women in digital media in the last two years. Applications for the third Women's Leadership Academy at Poynter (http://www.poynter.org/2017-women-digital-media/) will be accepted starting in November.

About The Poynter Institute 
The Poynter Institute for Media Studies is a global leader in journalism education and a strategy center that stands for uncompromising excellence in journalism, media and 21st century public discourse. Poynter faculty teach seminars and workshops at the Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida, and at conferences and organizational sites around the world. Its e-learning division, News University, www.newsu.org, offers the world's largest online journalism curriculum in 7 languages, with more than 400 interactive courses and 330,000 registered users in more than 200 countries. The Institute's website, www.poynter.org, produces 24-hour coverage of news about media, ethics, technology, the business of news and the trends that currently define and redefine journalism news reporting. The world's top journalists and media innovators come to Poynter to learn and teach new generations of reporters, storytellers, media inventors, designers, visual journalists, documentarians and broadcast producers, and to build public awareness about journalism, media, the First Amendment and protected discourse that serves democracy and the public good.

About The National Association of Black Journalists
An advocacy group established in 1975 in Washington, D.C., NABJ is the largest organization for journalists of color in the nation, and provides career development as well as educational and other support to its members worldwide. For additional information, please visit www.nabj.org.

Contact: Tina Dyakon
Director of Advertising and Marketing
The Poynter Institute
[email protected]
727-553-4343

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