ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (Sept. 9, 2024) — The Poynter Institute is pleased to announce the 30 journalists selected for 2024’s third and final Leadership Academy for Women in Media cohort.
They come from 16 states plus Washington, D.C., as well as the Netherlands and Canada. They represent the full news spectrum: digital news organizations; legacy and public media; broadcast, visual, engineering, audience and community; and local and nonprofit news.
This is the third of Poynter’s three leadership academies for women and nonbinary leaders this year. Two previous cohorts met in March and May. Participants for all three groups were selected at the same time and placed into a specific cohort designed to generate rich and diverse group dynamics. Including these 30, Poynter will train more than 90 newsroom leaders through this transformative program in 2024, and increase the alumni network for this program to more than 650.
“Poynter’s Leadership Academy for Women in Media offers time and space for these accomplished newsroom leaders to focus on their leadership goals for themselves, their teams and their audiences,” said Sitara Nieves, Poynter vice president of teaching and organizational strategy. “We’re thrilled to welcome this newest cohort to Poynter, and know they will leave with a community of advisers and friends who will support them in the years ahead.”
Poynter designed the Leadership Academy for Women in Media in 2015 to diversify the ranks of people who lead the media industry.
“This may sound minor, but sometimes the biggest discovery a cohort member makes is that they’re not alone in the leadership challenges they’re facing, ” academy director Kate Cox said. “I like to tell each group on day one, ‘The breakthrough, solution or insight you need is right here in this room, in one of these wise minds.’ We’ll build the kinds of newsrooms we want to work in together, as a community.”
Read a conversation about career management with Leadership Academy for Women in Media Director Kate Cox and program alumni Zainab Shah, Jin Ding and Erika Hobbs.
Welcome to the newest Leadership Academy for Women in Media cohort:
- Karen Anderson, director of radio programming, Vermont Public
- Martha Asencio-Rhine; photo director, projects and features; Tampa Bay Times
- Maggie Beidelman; deputy director of visuals, video; San Francisco Chronicle
- Karen Bonar, editor and publisher, Ellsworth County Independent-Reporter
- Maria Martha Bruno de Arruda, communications coordinator, Agencia Pública
- Barbara Chai; deputy of strategy and operations, culture department; The New York Times
- Kiran Chitanvis, executive producer, Flint Sparks Media
- Meghan Coyle; assistant assigning editor, travel; NerdWallet
- Lindsay Deutsch; senior manager, programming team; The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
- Maureen Feighan, deputy metro editor, The Detroit News
- Andrea Firestone Kaletta, news content manager, KSDK-TV
- Samantha Fischer, executive digital producer, KARE-TV
- Jodie Fleischer; managing editor, investigative content and collaborations; Cox Media Group
- Karlijn Goossen, genre coordinator, NPO (Dutch National Public Service Media)
- Patricia Guerra; senior producer, race and culture; Nightline, ABC News
- Ashley Hebler, engineering manager, The Texas Tribune
- Eileen Imada; senior managing producer, On Point; WBUR
- Rasheedah Ajibade, editor-in-chief, Our Times Newspaper
- Jazzmine Jackson, audience editor, MinnPost
- Teresa Mahoney, managing producer of video, The Oregonian/OregonLive
- Meg Ely; managing editor, audience development; Bloomberg News
- Kassandra Navarro, deputy audience editor, ProPublica
- Stefania Orrù, director of production, Eater/Vox Media
- Brittany Ruff, senior producer, MSNBC
- Nora Simon, deputy multiplatform editing chief, The Washington Post
- MJ Slaby, bureau chief, Chalkbeat Indiana
- Faith Smith, senior director of events, The 19th News
- Tanya Springer; senior manager, strategy/growth; CBC Podcasts
- Alexis Stephens, director of communications, ProPublica
- Emily Swanson, director of public opinion research, The Associated Press
Faculty and coaches include Maria Carrillo, Dalia Colón, Kate Cox, Sherri Day and Kristen Hare. Those chosen for Poynter’s 2024 Leadership Academy for Women in Media passed through a competitive review process led by program alumni.
Applications for the 2025 program are scheduled to open Sept. 17, 2024.
Poynter thanks the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and Newmark Philanthropies for their longstanding support of this program.
