Outlier Media, the Detroit-based independent platform that embodies news as a utility, recently joined URL Media as our newest publishing partner, bringing the total number of high-performing BIPOC-owned newsrooms in the network to 13.
Senior Recruiter Sonali Kohli here. I want to talk to you this week about the joy of having and being a mentor, and the grief of losing a mentor. I want to talk to you in particular about Henry Fuhrmann, who was my first journalism mentor. Henry died earlier this month at the age of 65, a few years after entering semi-retirement. He had so much left. Henry and I met when I was an extremely eager (perhaps too eager) student at the Univerisity of California - Los Angeles [UCLA]. As an undergraduate, I went to the Los Angeles Times building downtown every chance I could — for everything from tours to events and panels. At one such panel, I met Henry, who was an assistant managing editor overseeing the copy desk. At our college newspaper, the Daily Bruin, we were grappling with a decision (remember that this was circa 2011): my editor and I wanted to honor a source's request to use they/them pronouns in a story, which we'd never done. Neither had the Los Angeles Times, yet. But Henry believed in respecting a person's identity and using language as a tool to do that. He told me that journalists must strive for accuracy, and it is reasonable to deduce that the name or pronouns a person uses for themselves are the most accurate. He supported our decision to respect the source's identity and then used the Bruin as an example when the LA Times had that conversation about pronouns not long after.
Andaiye brings a unique cross-section of professional experiences to the role. She joins URL Media from her own company, Angle Content, which helps companies and publications exceed their audience and customer acquisition goals through strategic content planning, production and distribution. Before that, Andaiye spent more than a decade working at high-performing ad tech startups in roles spanning account management, product management, and content strategy. And from 2013 to 2019 Andaiye ran her own hyperlocal publication, Brick City Live, which covered her beloved hometown of Newark, NJ.
We are thrilled to announce an addition to the URL Media team: Ellah Nze is our new Director of Operations. URL Media is a network of high-performing Black and Brown media outlets that share content and revenues; the company, launched in January 2021, also operates a growing recruitment, coaching and executive placement arm that centers diverse talent and excellence.
By URL Media
By Anita Hill
Wake Up With WURD's Solomon Jones interviews actress Sheryl Lee Ralph about the hit show "Abbott Elementary," why teachers love it so much and the miseducation of Philadelphia schoolchildren.
It’s. Been. A. Year.
2021 has been a long year: We launched URL Media a year ago, with the goal to “Uplift, Respect, and Love” the work of Black and Brown-owned media organizations in our network. Watch our year in review,
Meet Melanie Figueiredo. We're excited to welcome her to URL Media (which stands for Uplift, Respect and Love), as the inaugural VP of Sales and Sponsorships. In that role she will build the ad network to support URL's consortium of Black and Brown-owned media organizations that have joined together to share content, reach and revenue. A seasoned sales exec, Melanie joins us from GBH in Boston, public media's largest station, where she spent the past eight years overseeing sponsorships.
By S. Mitra Kalita and Sara Lomax-Reese
By S. Mitra Kalita and Sara Lomax-Reese
By Simi Shah
