Newsletter

Celebrating women in the business of journalism

To celebrate Women’s History Month, we spent time getting to know 10 women redefining business and development in news.

By Hayley Slusser

April 7, 2022

Many of the organizations currently at the leading edge of innovation in journalism are led by women, and to celebrate Women’s History Month we spent time getting to know 10 of those women redefining business and development in news. 

My colleagues, Kyra Miller, Samiya Green, Mabedi Sennanyana, and I met with women from a variety of backgrounds to learn more about how they got started in media, their career paths, and their aspirations for the future of journalism. We discussed our experiences conducting the interviews in a Twitter Space, which you can catch up on here. 

One key takeaway from the project is how obstacles can be turned into opportunities. Women — especially women of color — often face a number of challenges on their way to success, but the women we interviewed shared how they were able to pivot when roadblocks arose. 

“Not every change or obstacle is meant to diminish you,” Green said. “It could be a detour to something powerful and great for your own career path and personal work.” 

Another lesson learned is just how many opportunities there are to get involved with journalism beyond the traditional roles of reporter or editor. All of these women came from different backgrounds and have worked and roles in and outside of this sector, but are united by their goal of serving their communities through media.

“This common thread is that ‘We’re really passionate about news and we’re passionate about this industry, but I don’t think that my passion is in writing,’” Miller said. 

To wrap up our Women in Journalism series, we wanted to share our full conversations with each of our interviewees. We hope you enjoy getting to know these 10 outstanding women as much as we did. 

• Sandra Clark, CEO, StoryCorps
• Mary Walter-Brown, CEO & Founder, News Revenue Hub
• Mandy Jenkins, Head of Product, Factal
• DeAnna Tisdale Johnson, Publisher & Editor in Chief, The Jackson Advocate
• Kyra Kyles, CEO, YR Media
• Kiran Nazish, Journalist & Founding Director, Coalition for Women In Journalism
• Anna Nirmala, Vice President, Portfolio Success, American Journalism Project
• Jessica Sweeney, Development Director, The Salt Lake Tribune
• Gillian White, Senior VP of Programming and Revenue, Capital B
• Amanda Zamora, Co-Founder & Publisher, The 19th

We were proud to celebrate this group of women – but we won’t just focus on their achievements during Women’s History Month. As we identify our next steps with Solution Set, we will continue to uplift and highlight the diverse voices building a better future for journalism. 

And please let us know if your news organization is trying new ways of reaching audiences, generating revenue, or re-imagining journalism — we’d love to feature your work.