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Founder: Enny Pichardo (He/him)

Location: Mount Vernon, New York (NYC)

Description: #EnNYConMás was created in March 2020. It is produced daily for a YouTube channel and different social media platforms. It is recorded, edited and presented using accurate content, both originally and from reputable sources.

Bio: Pichardo is currently the producer, editor and host of #EnNYConMás, a self-produced YouTube show that provides news summaries on topics important to the Latino community. In his almost 17-year career, Pichardo has left his marks in the television industry: he worked for the local network NY1 Noticias, and the international networks NTN24, Univisión and Telemundo. He has covered important topics such as the devastating earthquake in Haiti, several terrorist attacks including the Boston Marathon; as well as several massacres such as that of Sandy Hook Elementary School--Connecticut; and he has conducted high-profile interviews with leading global figures including Presidents of several Latin American and European countries, and several celebrities.

Founder: Linda Lee Baird (She/her)

Location: Columbus, Ohio

Bio: I am an award-winning writer, educator and editor who started my career working for education-focused nonprofit organizations in Boston and New York City. Since I began freelancing in 2018, my work has appeared in publications including U.S. News and World Report, Vital City, Columbus Monthly, Matter News, MUTHA, Edible Columbus, and (614) magazine. EdInk, a newsletter examining local education issues, will launch in 2024.

Founder: Mia McNew (She/her)

Location: Midwest

Description: The Ethos Report is an independent, own-voices publication that centers autistic and neurodivergent autonomy, reporting on ableism and ethics in research, healthcare, and American society.

Bio: Mia McNew, MS is a disabled journalist and doctoral student . Her research focuses on how healthism undermines the quality of life for disabled people in America. With more than 19 years of experience as a professional writer, editor, and ghostwriter, Mia is constantly exploring how she can utilize her professional experience to advocate for research and resources that center the voices and lived experiences of disabled people.

Founder: Jessica Brockington

Location: Beals, Maine

Description: A local news podcast serving the iconic fishing communities around Moosabec Reach, Maine.

Bio: I am a values-driven entrepreneur. I've published a local newspaper in an under-served area of Manhattan, launched an environmental networking organization in Greenwich, Connecticut, taught people returning from prison to bake bread and sell it at farmers markets, and raised funding for a wind turbine artist. I love Downeast Coastal Maine and feel so fortunate to be able to live here.

Founder: Aria Velasquez (She/her)

Location: Chicago, IL

Description: Labor Pains is a journalist-owned newsletter covering the state of unions, organized labor and what it means to work under late-stage capitalism.

Bio: Aria Velasquez is a mid-career journalist who has been playing the game of career hopscotch since 2016, Her career has gone from social media and audience engagement to newsletter writing and editing with a brief pit stop in the land known as grad school. Aria originally from the Atlanta suburbs and is currently based in Chicago. She has bachelor's degrees in Political Science and International Affairs from the University of Georgia. Aria has been a member of the Writers Guild of America East since 2017.

Founder: Lauchlin Fields (She/her)

Location: Vicksburg, MS

Description: LF Voices Collective is a digital media platform dedicated to amplifying diverse Southern narratives through innovative storytelling and community engagement.

Bio: I began my career as a community newspaper reporter in Mississippi, where my passion for elevating local voices took root. In my current role as Audience Development Director at Mississippi Today and Deep South Today, I've spearheaded initiatives that have significantly increased our readership and successfully bridged the gap between editorial content and marketing strategies. My professional path has included founding Front Porch Fodder and The 'Sip magazine, leading me to my current venture, LF Voices Collective. Here, I'm dedicated to giving a platform to diverse voices, utilizing my extensive experience in digital publishing to create impactful, inclusive narratives.

Founder: Kelly Mirt (He/him)

Location: Lynchburg, VA

Bio: With 40 years of experience as a business and media executive, I am an independent consultant specializing in business development, communications, and leadership. As the former President and Publisher of newspapers and websites, I have successfully launched revenue-generating products, perfected organizational strategies, and led impactful news initiatives. I help businesses thrive by understanding their needs and implementing effective solutions, while now aiming to provide local news all while holding a bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas and certification from the University of South Florida.

Founder: Dan Samorodnitsky (He/him)

Location: Minneapolis, MN

Description: A journalist-owned science media publication written with perspective and politics in mind, in direct opposition to publications like Scientific American or Discover.

Bio: I'm a former scientist turned science journalist and editor. I was the editor of Massive Science, a popsci digital magazine that succeeded in terms of growing readership (with ~300,000 monthly readers with a full-time staff of just me) that closed because we couldn't figure out how to make money. I've experienced bad and incompetent media management and editorial decisions and with the knowledge that my own decision-making helped grow our audience, I'm ready to own my work.

Founder: Gaëlle Engelberts (She/her)

Location: Montreal, Quebec

Description: Mon Mile End builds stronger communities by providing relevant and exclusive hyperlocal news.

Bio: Gaëlle Engelberts, founder of Mon Mile End has worked in journalism and communication for 13 years. She completed a bachelor's degree in journalism at Concordia University in 2010 before starting her career as a TV and radio journalist for Radio-Canada and RDI. After a brief return to university to complete a master's degree in communication, she was hired by the Canada Media Fund to create content and manage a website focused on key trends driving the Canadian screen industry. She officially launched the hyperlocal newsletter Mon Mile End in early 2023 and plans on launching two other newsletters to cover the whole Plateau-Mont-Royal borough, in Montreal, Canada.

Founder: Kris Krug (He/him)

Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada

Bio: Kris Krug is a photographer, podcaster, and technologist who has covered global events for outlets like National Geographic while also exploring the creative potential of emerging technologies like AI - he now leverages his diverse expertise to build online communities and tell multidimensional stories at the intersection of art, activism, and innovation.

Co-founder: Dawn Marie Paley (She/her)

Location: México/Canada

Description: Periodismo y análisis en traducción / journalism and analysis in translation. Fundada marzo 2023 / launched March 2023.

Bio: Ojalá, which is a way of saying ‘hopefully’ in Spanish, launched this year on the eve of International Women’s Day in March. Our mission is to provide coverage of and from feminist movements throughout Latin America. Ojalá publishes weekly news and reports from the region in both English and Spanish.

Founder: Kacie Willis (She/her)

Location: Atlanta, GA

Description: A podcast dedicated to news, data and current happenings in the creative entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Bio: Kacie is an audio creator and arts advocate based out of Atlanta, Georgia. She earned her BS in Music Recording Technology from Hampton University and MFA in Sound Design from Savannah College of Art and Design. After participating in the 2019 Spotify Sound Up accelerator program she formed the production company Could Be Pretty Cool whose mission is to produce unique creative experiences to inspire community building through the arts.

Founder: Kamaria Roberts (She/her)

Location: Washington, DC

Description: Rich Black Auntie is the premiere digital destination for Black women to find the best information tailored to their lifestyles.

Bio: I am a career journalist who has moved into the journalism support sector. I love working with local journalists to help them identify communities that they can partner with, based on their mutual strengths and capacities. My goal is to begin my own publication that caters to an educated, American, Black, woman demographic that I am highly familiar with.

Founder: Sebastian Gonzalez de Leon (He/him)

Location: Saint Petersburg, Florida

Description: San Pedro Gazette is a journalistic service to empower Pinellas County residents. How? Every month, this organization will publish two newsletters detailing City Hall's calendar, and sharing highlights of past public meetings.

Bio: I love publishing and empowering fellow human beings and I am ready to make it happen. I've worked mainly in journalism and social media, but my political science degree and passions have taught me how to set up a publishing digital operation. I optimized Noticieros Televisa's digital strategy; I also implemented best practices for SEO and social for Univision Chicago, as well as a sustainable digital news team; and I planned activations for Dell Technologies' Corporate and Consumer handles.

Founder: Casey Mendoza (She/her)

Location: Chicago, IL

Description: What if the exhibit halls, panels and Artist Alleys of Comic-Con were condensed into a magazine? "Silly Little Magazine" is a monthly newsletter and quarterly print zine for pop culture content creators, fandom-centered small businesses, independent artists, cosplayers and anyone who considers themself to be hella nerdy and "chronically online.”

Bio: Casey Mendoza has over a decade of experience in the entertainment news world — as a reporter, on-air correspondent, producer, documentary filmmaker, and most importantly, a fan. For the national broadcast outlet Scripps News, she’s covered the rise and plateaus of the streaming industry, the impacts of the pandemic on pop culture, the democratized influence of online fandoms, and the nuanced discussions about equity and inclusion in Hollywood. She feels most at home at any comic-con around the country, or in her own living room, watching a romantic comedy with her husband and two cats — each named after Studio Ghibli characters.

Founder: LJ Dawson (She/her)

Location: Washington, D.C.

Description: The Des is a criminal justice news outlet that reports on the frontlines of the DMV and federal justice system.

Bio: LJ is a nationally published journalist who focused on social inequity beginning early in her career. She saw a gap in journalism serving the most impacted communities and decided to found her own news outlet in 2020 that covers the justice system. She believes strongly in the power of stories to heal and build bridges within our communities. She is passionate about mentoring aspiring journalists, including over a dozen interns who have worked with The Des. She also is the editor in chief of the D.C. based cannabis outlet, The Outlaw Report.

Founder: Krystal Knapp (She/her)

Location: Trenton, New Jersey

Description: The Jersey Vindicator is a new statewide investigative, nonprofit and non-partisan news organization that seeks to advance accountability, spotlight truth, and empower citizens through original reporting that no one else is doing in the state.

Bio: I am a former prison chaplain from Detroit who became a reporter after witnessing the power of journalists to tell stories that raise awareness, right wrongs, and free the innocent from prison. I worked at the Trenton Times for a decade then as an editor in Beirut, Lebanon, and then as a freelance writer. I then launched a community hyperlocal news website a decade ago called Planet Princeton that has been a part-time project supported by the community and my work as a WordPress developer, but saw the need for a statewide news website that focuses on accountability reporting when I started covering the state again during the pandemic.

Founder: Peter Bittner (He/him)

Location: Cleveland, OH

Description: The Upgrade is your weekly guide to generative AI for storytelling, offering actionable insights, deep explorations, and real-world case studies for journalists, creators, and PR/communications pros to get ahead!

Bio: An award-winning multimedia journalist and media strategist, Peter's work has been featured in The New York Times, CNN, Bloomberg, and other major outlets. A Fulbright Scholar and UC Berkeley lecturer in new media, he's passionate about learning, utilizing, and teaching the latest tech tools for powerful storytelling. His latest obsession is helping fellow storytellers understand how (and how not) to use generative AI tools to enhance their narrative workflows and connect with their audiences.

Founder: Jazmin Goodwin (She/her)

Location: Columbia, SC

Bio: Jazmin Goodwin is a multimedia storyteller and community builder passionate about bridging the worlds of media, tech and entrepreneurship. As a business reporter for CNN and USA TODAY, she covered diverse topics from the economy to financial markets. She’s also worked with a global accelerator program and VC firm supporting early-stage startups. Jazmin is deeply committed to advocating for women and minorities, aiming to reshape the entrepreneurial landscape and amplify diversity in media. She is driven by telling impactful stories and building rich communities. She holds a B.A. from Howard University and a M.A. from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.

Founder: Tara Hughes (She/her)

Location: Winchester, MA

Description: Winchester News is a trusted and reliable source of local community and government news. It’s our vision to increase civic participation and improve civil discourse. www.winchesternews.org

Bio: I am a former practicing attorney and Town Meeting Member. I was appointed to a Communications Study Committee created by our Town Meeting in 2021 to represent my precinct. Winchester News is an offshoot of that committee. I have a BA in Political Science and am interested in supporting a vibrant democracy through an informed citizenry.

Team Member(s): Joyce Westner

Location: Charlotte, North Carolina

Description: This will be the definitive college admissions resource for working adults – especially military veterans and people from underserved and historically excluded communities – and the credible higher ed institutions seeking to serve them.

Founder: Imad Alrawashdeh (He/him)

Team Member: Majdolin Hasan

Location: Washington DC

Description: It's an independent online magazine that provides slow, in-depth and critical journalism on issues related to the Middle East in its relations with the world politically, culturally and economically. It aspires to provide an alternative narrative to the mainstream one.