Updated: March 13, 2019

This class of 30 women will come to Poynter from Finland, India, Kenya, South Africa and the United States for a week of intensive leadership training.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (March 5, 2019) – The Poynter Institute, a global leader in journalism, is pleased to announce the second of three classes selected for its fifth annual Leadership Academy for Women in Digital Media. This elite group of 30 women will join a network of more than 300 graduates who consistently report being transformed personally and professionally through the program.

“We’re so excited to welcome our next cohort of amazing female journalists,” said Doris Truong, Poynter director of training and diversity. “I look at these faces and I see the people who will guide journalism through challenges such as harassment and pay inequality. Our industry needs more women at the top, and this training will embolden 30 more women to be the change-makers we need.”

Poynter is hosting three distinct seminars again this year: the first concluded last week, the second will begin March 31, and the final will occur in October.

During Poynter’s weeklong program, participants receive one-on-one career coaching from top media executives, learn practical advice on navigating newsroom culture and gain a deep understanding of what it takes to successfully lead today’s digital news organizations.

“We just wrapped up our first academy of 2019, and I couldn’t be much happier with how it turned out,” said Katie Hawkins-Gaar, the lead faculty for Poynter’s 2019 Leadership Academies for Women in Digital Media. “The guest faculty were honest and thought-provoking, the conversations throughout the week were challenging and enlightening; and, most importantly, the participants formed close connections and identified countless ways to support each other in their careers. I can’t wait to do it all again at the end of this month.”

Hawkins-Gaar will be joined by the following guest faculty members during the second academy:

• Emma Carew Grovum, freelance journalist and project manager
• Joy Mayer, director, Trusting News
• Kat Downs Mulder, director of product, Washington Post
• Destinée-Charisse Royal, senior staff editor, graphics, The New York Times
• Gloria Riviera, correspondent, ABC News
• Andrea Schneider, law professor, Marquette University Law School
• Jennifer White, host of WBEZ’s The Morning Shift and the Making Oprah and Making Obama podcasts

Royal and Carew Grovum are both graduates of Poynter’s academy and will be returning as instructors. Poynter instructors Kelly McBride, Doris Truong, Cheryl Carpenter and Kristen Hare will also teach at the academy.

Meet the spring 2019 cohort

The women selected for the spring cohort are pioneers in digital media who have demonstrated an aptitude for leadership through current projects and references. They are selected by a committee of graduates of the program, with an emphasis to ensure diversity across ethnicity, geography, technology platforms, organization size and skill sets.

Poynter is pleased to welcome the following members of the upcoming Leadership Academy for Women in Digital Media: