Hello!
You know when I tell people my job, their first instinct is to say, “like Miranda Priestly,” or some other fancy editor. And I assure them, hyperlocal community journalism doesn’t really have space for all that. My job is probably more similar to her first assistant, except I have to do payroll.
For more than a decade, our July issue has been our women’s edition. For about six years, it was referred to as Fierce Females. We’ve gone back to just referring to it as the women’s edition.
In the entirety of the Advocate’s existence, even when my predecessor, Rick, was running the show, we’ve had a staff made predominantly of women. Seeing as our audience averages 60% women and most journalism schools skew female, it makes sense.
Our women’s edition has featured an interesting cross-section of women across the city — a world champion boxer, one of the creators of Sesame Street, a leader in community gardening for public schools, the women running some of the most influential PR companies, neuroscientists, artists, nonprofit leaders and teachers. The list of dynamic, creative and exciting people we’ve written about is comprehensive.
That’s why, for the month of July, we’re sharing a story of one of the many women we’ve written about every day on social media. You’ll see a special section in our newsletters featuring the weekly seven.
One of my favorite aspects is how many times we find these women because their significant others, colleagues, children and friends contact us to let us know how influential or kind they are. How much they believe in the work she’s been doing. How she’s changed lives. How they’ve pioneered in a space that needed to be changed. She’s one of the best people they’ve met.
But this issue is particularly special to me because it marks five years since I’ve been the president of Advocate Media. Back in 2021, when we were making the transition into a nonprofit newsroom and I was appointed the president in the midst of a pandemic and general uncertainty, I was 26 years old. I regularly remind Rick what an insane decision it was to leave his legacy in the hands of someone who could barely rent a car without young driver fees, for crying out loud.
But the perk of working in this industry is talking to an exhaustive list of people who can teach you a little bit of something.
This includes our former editors and neighbors, like Keri Mitchell, who is running the Dallas Free Press, or Lisa Kresl, who spent two decades at The Dallas Morning News, and our Judy Liles, who kept everyone, including Rick, in line. Or our former staffers who left our humble abode for fellowships, to chase stories much bigger than themselves or start their own businesses. There are our interns who have become news anchors, reporters, lawyers and Ph.D. candidates across the country. And of course, there’s our staff members like Jynnette Neal, who has been at the Advocate for more than 25 years, and seemingly has an archival memory of every story and photo ever produced here.
I’ve begun writing significantly less as the years have gone by (eight years!) and the number of photo shoots I attend has been greatly reduced. For this year’s issue, I’m shooting portraits of the cover story subjects for their stories. One thing I’ve learned at the Advocate is I should find the room with the smartest person in it and listening to her is worth it. The room happened to be our photo studio this month.
Sincerely,
P.S. I’m told that I am supposed to include something about why you should donate to support hyperlocal journalism. Please do! We have potholes, libraries, preservation, history, art, music, education, so much zoning and of course, interesting neighbors to write about.
