ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (May 1, 2024) — The Poynter Institute is pleased to announce the 30 people selected for the second Leadership Academy for Women in Media cohort in 2024.
They come from 14 states plus Washington, D.C., as well as Argentina and Canada. They represent the full news spectrum: digital news organizations; legacy and public media; audio, visual, engineering, audience and community; and local and nonprofit news.
This is the second of Poynter’s three leadership academies for women and nonbinary leaders this year. A previous cohort met in March, and another will convene in September. 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 people, 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 600.
“Poynter’s Leadership Academy for Women in Media offers a chance for these dynamic leaders to truly focus on their leadership and their relationship to their newsrooms and their audiences,” said Sitara Nieves, Poynter vice president of teaching and organizational strategy. “These leaders will walk away with new frameworks for ethical decision-making, newsroom sustainability and effective leadership — and with a community that can support them in the industry for years to come.”
Poynter designed the Leadership Academy for Women in Media in 2015 to diversify the ranks of people who lead the media industry. Each new cohort grows the alumni group of more than 600 women and nonbinary journalists.
“The leadership academy has evolved in scope over close to a decade, but one thing remains the same,” academy director Kate Cox said. “Every incoming cohort is a real-time reflection of how healthy newsrooms are, what they need, and how well they’re serving their audiences right now.”
She said program leaders are “very intentional” about adapting this program to meet the needs of the moment, and that every cohort is integral to that conversation.
“I can’t wait to learn from this exceptional group of leaders about how they envision building and sustaining newsrooms that the next generation of journalists will thrive in.”
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:
- Daniela Allee, senior news editor, New Hampshire Public Radio
- Molly Armbrister, West Coast regional editor, Bisnow Media
- Elizabeth Baier, digital news editor, North Carolina Public Radio/WUNC
- Emily Canal, senior editor, Economy Team, Insider
- Ashley Chervinski, deputy production editor, The Guardian US
- Emily Cureton Cook, central Oregon bureau chief, Oregon Public Broadcasting
- Rawan Elbaba, digital producer, PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs
- Upasna Gautam, senior product manager, platforms, CNN
- Lauren Giudice, social media manager, ESPN
- Jezaniah Hawthorne, program director, KBOO Community Radio
- Lindsey Hollenbaugh, managing editor, The Berkshire Eagle
- Caroline Houck, senior editor of news, Vox
- Brooke Lansdale, director of news operations, The Associated Press
- Kira Lerner, democracy editor, The Guardian US
- Emily Lytle, Innovation in Focus editor, Reynolds Journalism Institute
- Kathleen Masterson, assistant managing editor, climate and environment, WBUR
- Laura McCrystal, deputy politics editor, Philadelphia Inquirer
- Sarah Mupo, senior copy and production editor, STAT
- Robin Ngai, senior editorial operations manager, Insider
- Andrea Noble, government and politics editor, The Virginian-Pilot
- Natacha Pisarenko, Southern Cone news director, The Associated Press
- Emon Reiser, deputy breaking news editor, The Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones Newswires
- Caitlin Saks, senior producer, NOVA | GBH
- Shibani Shah, senior multiplatform editor, The Washington Post
- Olivia Smith, executive producer, Next Generation Storytelling, ABC7 Los Angeles
- Chrystal Smith, design managing editor, Science magazine, AAAS
- Liz Sullivan, deputy editor of visuals, photo and video, The Globe and Mail
- Meg Wagner, assistant managing editor for live news, CNN
- Keely Walker, nightside executive producer, KING 5, Tegna
- Shaye Weaver, editor, Time Out New York
The May academy will kick off with an exploration of each member’s top five leadership strengths, via the Gallup CliftonStrengths assessment.
Other lessons during the week include:
- The popular work-life chemistry session, how to spot burnout and what to do about it, and managing up, with Poynter faculty Kristen Hare
- Intentional delegation, negotiation tactics, and ethical leadership with Cox
- Managing through authenticity and recruitment and retention, with consultant Maria Carrillo
- Using positive psychology to silence your inner critic, with executive producer and host of the Zest podcast, Dalia Colón
Attendees will also get coaching, feedback and opportunities to expand their network.
Those chosen for Poynter’s 2024 Leadership Academy for Women in Media passed through multiple rounds of review led by program alumni that emphasize diversity across race, ethnicity, geography, age, platform/medium, organization size and expertise to further enrich the participant experience.
Poynter thanks the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and Newmark Philanthropies for their longstanding support of this program.
