As Hurricane Helene rolled toward Florida’s Gulf Coast, 30 journalists attending Poynter’s Leadership Academy for Women in Media in St. Petersburg had to make a decision: weather the storm or fly back home?
All 30 of them wanted to stay.
“I was so excited to go to Poynter,” said Karen Anderson, director of radio programming for Vermont Public. “Once I was there and planted and in my spot, I thought, ‘Nothing is going to take me away from here.’ And then I started hearing rumblings about the hurricane.”
Anderson was part of the September cohort of what’s colloquially called Women’s Leadership Academy, or WLA. The academy, the third and final session of 2024, was scheduled to run from Monday to Friday, Sept. 23-27, with most of the group arriving in town Sunday night, Sept. 22.
That’s when news began to really percolate about the potential of Hurricane Helene impacting Tampa Bay.
“I didn’t think too much of it at first,” said Sam Fischer, digital executive producer at KARE in Minneapolis. “We’re all trying to process and take in the fact that we’re actually finally at Poynter, which at first is just like, so amazing.”
MJ Slaby, bureau chief for Chalkbeat Indiana, said that as the reality of a hurricane set in, the group members discussed what they should do.
“I’m from Indiana, so I don’t have any experience with hurricanes,” she laughed. She said that every day, Poynter leadership kept the attendees updated on the hurricane’s track and offered information about what to expect next. “It was like, OK, here’s what we know today (Monday). Tuesday’s the day that you make the decisions, and Wednesday’s the day you’d have to leave because by Thursday, it’s too late. It was very laid out, day by day. So that was really helpful for me.”
Kate Cox, an editor and digital media consultant who serves as WLA’s director, said she and other Poynter leaders kept careful tabs on Helene, and wanted to make sure that any contingency plan took the attendees’ concerns seriously.
“Before I even entered the room on Monday, we were game-planning about what the tone of the room would be and how people felt,” Cox said.
Programming went on as usual on Monday. Then on Tuesday, Poynter’s leadership presented the women with their options. Attendees specifically said that Poynter CFO/COO Jessi Navarro and producer Angela Trajanoski went above and beyond on a daily basis to keep them informed.
“When it became clear that the hurricane was strengthening, the whole team communicated to us their Plan A, their Plan B and even an emergency Plan C,” said Alexis Stephens, director of communications for ProPublica. “We ended up having to do Plan B, which was to do the first three days at the Poynter Institute, and Thursday and Friday sessions at the hotel.”
Most of the attendees were already staying at the Bayfront Hilton, located about half a mile from Poynter, so the entire cohort could relocate full-time to finish out the week at the hotel, which is known for its storm safety.
All attendees were given the option to leave. None did.
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“For some odd reason, I felt a complete sense of calm as we were navigating the circumstances surrounding Hurricane Helene,” said Brittany Ruff, a senior producer at MSNBC. “Every day of the program went on without missing a beat. It was truly priceless to have these ladies ensure that even with a hurricane barrelling towards us, they were committed to our learning and development.”
During one presentation, WLA leader Kate Cox included an image of a hurricane as a metaphor for how work negotiations can feel. “She totally forgot that slide was in there, so when we got to it, the entire room broke out into an enormous belly laugh,” said WLA producer Angela Trajanoski. “Amongst the very frequent emergency alerts sounding off, it was a really nice moment of levity.” (Photo: Angela Trajanoski)
Anderson agreed.
“I definitely thought, ‘Do I stay or do I go?’ But the program is exceptional,” she said. “To have the opportunity to be in a group with 29 other women thinking through all of these important issues, and actually getting practical tools to take back, was such a strong pull for me that I thought, ‘I’m going to do everything in my power to stay’ and so I did.”
Poynter excused the WLA group about 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday to give the participants time to relocate to the Hilton, and officially closed its campus Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Fischer was one of several participants who was already booked in at the Hilton for the week.
“It’s kind of fun that everybody came to my house for the hurricane party,” she said. “It was really nice to have all of us together.”
The only WLA member who didn’t join the group the entire time was a local reporter who was called into work.
The WLA sessions resumed Thursday morning at the hotel as the storm skated across the Atlantic, headed toward an eventual landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida, about 200 miles north of Tampa Bay.
After Thursday’s sessions, and as the rain and wind from Helene ramped up around St. Petersburg, the women gathered in the hotel lobby to snack, drink and swap stories.
“Thursday night, (we) had a bit of a hurricane party in the lobby of the hotel we had all shifted to,” Ruff said. “Everyone had grabbed snacks, desserts and wine and spent hours fellowshipping with one another — swapping stories of motherhood, the newsroom and everything in between. It was probably one of the most enjoyable nights of the week. If I’m not mistaken, every cohort member came down at some point, just to hang out.”
Participants in the September cohort of Poynter’s Leadership Academy for Women in Media gather in their hotel lobby on Thursday, Sept. 26, the night Hurricane Helene most impacted the Tampa Bay area. (Courtesy)
“I think it helped us to bond that much more and maybe that much quicker than we ordinarily would have over the course of the five days, because we were making these tough decisions together,” Anderson said. “And I think as journalists, there was that mix of excitement and fear, knowing that this is a big thing that’s really going to impact this region and beyond.”
Many in the St. Petersburg area experienced serious damages to their homes, businesses and property due to high winds, rain and a massive storm surge. But the WLA participants rode out the storm in the safety of their hotel.
“By the time I ended up going to sleep later that night, the storm had quieted down,” Stephens said. “We really spent the peak of it in community with one another, just getting through it together.”
The Poynter campus saw the storm surge, but no water got into the building and its operations resumed normally on Friday morning.
“It was just like a big pajama party with all your best girlfriends. It was amazing, considering the circumstances,” Fischer said. “It was a best-case scenario, for sure. And by that point, it’s getting toward the end of the week, so we’ve already had a lot of that time together, so it was just really nice to kind of get to know each other outside of work.”
Clockwise from left, Brittany Ruff, Kiran Chitanvis and Patty Guerra work during WLA in the Hilton hotel lobby. (Photo: Kate Cox)
By Friday morning the storm had passed the area, although the extent of the damage was only just becoming known.
“There just was a point where it was like, we can either feel held captive by this thing we can’t control, or we can dig in … to just be here and do this work,” WLA director Cox said. “And that’s exactly what they did. I was actually floored by the level of presence and intention from the group. So it was really easy for me to do my job on their behalf.”
The cohort members all headed back to their families that Friday, grateful for the experience and their safety.
“I thought it was amazing. This was something I’ve been looking forward to for almost a year. It was really important to me to be able to do it all,” Slaby said. “I felt like we had the info we needed to stay. I’m really grateful that I was able to still do it, that we were able to still do the program and pivot and be able to stay in the hotel to make it happen.”
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