The local media industry has copious innovative and passionate women. In honor of Women’s History Month, we interviewed five inspiring trendsetters. We invite you to get to know some of their work, influences and recommendations for others in the industry.
P. Kim Bui
P. Kim Bui is the director of audience innovation at The Arizona Republic. She’s focused her career on leading real-time news initiatives and creating new storytelling forms for digital, print and broadcast companies catering to local, national and global audiences. Prior to this, she was editor-at-large for NowThis News, focusing on original, social reporting and breaking news. She was also deputy managing editor for Reported.ly, a digital media startup specializing in social journalism. She’s been a speaker, trainer and teacher on digital and social journalism at universities, conferences and gatherings worldwide. She writes a syndicated newsletter for emerging leaders and managers, The Middles:
Can you tell us about a recent professional accomplishment that makes you particularly proud?
I graduated from CUNY’s Executive Leadership program in 2021, and I am really proud of that, especially since it collided with the pandemic. But the thing that brings me the most joy is launching an engagement project using text/SMS for the bilingual community here in Phoenix. It’s not big, but there are a few people signed up (and we’re hoping for more!) who want to be involved in a collaborative process with us, helping them navigate tough topics, like housing. The campaign is called Con La Phoeniquera, and I hope it will be one spoke of a larger wheel of sharing power and giving more representation to communities of color here.
Are there any other women you admire, including anyone such as personal mentors or historical figures, that have helped steer your path?
So many! This will be a totally incomplete list.
I am so happy so many women are in positions of power, but I truly look at [CEO and co-founder of URL Media] Mitra Kalita as one of the first women of color I saw rise to the top, and do it with empathy and care. I’m also really excited to see what Robyn Tomlin, [chief news officer at McClatchy] does in her new role. She is one of the kindest souls I know.
There are many people in my life who taught me the value of being a mentor, but Benet Wilson, [director of Stand Together/Poynter-Koch Media and Journalism Fellowship] taught me how to do so with brutal and necessary honesty.
There are a few women who often get panic calls and texts in the middle of the day, and who pretty much always pick up. They’ve all made it to a similar level and our friendship makes me think it really is possible.
Last year I read a book about the “girl stunt” reporter era, and was so inspired by women, the most known of whom are Ida B. Wells and Nellie Bly. They pushed for bigger, more impactful stories while fighting sexism and assumptions about a woman’s ability to do investigative reporting (and editing). The book is called Sensational by Kim Scott.
In your opinion, what does the local media industry need to thrive?
There are many small changes we could make, but the biggest thing is coming back to why local news exists. We lost the trust of our audiences because we separated ourselves from them, but in truth, we are community members, too! Returning to being a voice for the community and doing so by listening to our neighbors is important. Being physically in the community is important. Laughing with them, crying with them, celebrating wins in the community are all important.
The other half of this is a larger societal issue of how we deal with the massive flow of free information. Revenue is necessary for any business and a lot of information is out there for free. Not all of it is right, or honest, but it’s there. I think a lot about how we keep our communities better informed, enough for them to treat us like any other necessity (think hospitals, schools) and be willing to pay for it. And how do we do that without selling our morals and values while remaining true stewards of all community voices, especially those with less inherent, systematically given power?
Do you have any advice, recommended reads, mantras or perspectives to share with other women working in the industry?
I used to think that you had to be a newsroom mom or a newsroom mean girl (there is a curse word here that works better) to succeed and be treated as a person in leadership. Don’t listen to that. You deserve to be there because you are good and talented as yourself.
Kind, empathetic leadership is out there. It’s rare, but it exists. Strong, thoughtful leadership too. You get to decide what kind of leader you are, if you aim to fit someone else’s expectations of what or who a woman leader is, you’ll end up failing yourself and your team.
The other advice I give out regularly is: find a squad. People who will rise with you and help you rise. They can be men, women, people of color, white. But folks you know will answer the call and listen to you rant or cry. Having a squad has helped me maintain perspective and given me an outlet. Also, to be frank, my squad for the past 10 years has included a therapist.
Joanne Heyman
Joanne Heyman, founder and CEO of Heyman Partners, is internationally recognized as a thought leader, innovator and key advisor within the pro-social sector. A highly sought-after coach, facilitator and strategic advisor, Heyman has led organizations and counseled leadership on all sides of the table — media, nonprofits, foundation and enterprises.
Can you tell us about a recent professional accomplishment that makes you particularly proud?
I am incredibly proud of the work I did as the board chair of a nonprofit organization (in the journalism and service space) last year to achieve a successful founder transition. It leveraged all of my coaching, advising and facilitation skills, and helped me to deeply understand the current leadership and management landscape. The organization not only welcomed an outstanding new CEO, we worked effectively at the board and senior staff levels to build both engagement and trust.
Are there any other women you admire, including anyone such as personal mentors or historical figures, that have helped steer your path?
While my professional path has been self-directed, there are several women who have played important roles in my life: my college professor and friend, Bella Brodzki, who fed my creativity, critical thinking and connection needs; my coach Leslie Simone who holds me accountable to living according to my highest values while tapping into my talents and experience; and from afar the inimitable Julia Child, who cut a singular path through France and the kitchen and is an inspiration.
In your opinion, what does the local media industry need to thrive?
For local media to thrive, I believe we need leaders who are nimble and innovative with respect to how they grow revenue and audience engagement; a pipeline of talented and dedicated journalists who value the craft and see their work as being a bulwark of democracy and an expression of service; local business and philanthropic leaders willing to invest in media as a critical part of their communities’ health and strength; a platform-agnostic approach to meeting audiences where they are; and an environment that promotes local stewardship of this precious resource.
Do you have any advice, recommended reads, mantras or perspectives to share with other women working in the industry?
My “enoughness mantra” is useful to women across industries: when you are grounding in knowing that you are enough, you can go and do the work that you believe needs to be done, without limiting beliefs (yours or anyone else’s)! It’s three short statements: I have enough, I know enough, I am enough. This doesn’t mean that you aren’t always learning and growing, but rather that you have what you need right now to move forward. Grant yourself permission to do and be exactly what is needed.
Martha C. de la Torre
Martha C. de la Torre is the CEO of El Clasificado, which is the flagship brand of the parent company EC Hispanic Media. Founded with her husband, Joe Badame, as a weekly Spanish-language classified publication, ElClasificado.com is now the largest Spanish language classified marketplace in the United States. It ranks among the top 115 classified marketplaces in the world, according to Similarweb.com. With Quinceanera.com, Su Socio De Negocios, EmpleosLatino.com, EC Classifieds, and Al Borde, as well as joint venture startups Pantera Digital and Twyzle, the EC Hispanic Media group provides a marketplace for business-to-business as well as business-to-consumer opportunities in the the U.S Hispanic market.
Can you tell us about a recent professional accomplishment that makes you particularly proud?
In 2020, we created the El Clasificado Stimulus Package to help small Latino businesses get found online and survive the pandemic.
After we received our PPP loan during COVID, we brought back our furloughed employees and then focused on helping our customers survive. We launched our own EC Stimulus package for underserved small Latino businesses at risk of not surviving the pandemic.
Many of our advertisers did not initially qualify for a PPP loan or were unable to apply. Most of our customers are lifestyle entrepreneurs working in Latino communities. Most are immigrants, many don’t speak English, many are undocumented and many are unsophisticated business owners. Our initiative was very successful and Google profiled our initiative.
Additionally, we received an Eppy award from Editor & Publisher for our initiative.
Also in 2020, I graduated from the Stanford Latino Initiative Entrepreneurship program at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. It was a nine-week program for Latino CEOs with businesses with greater than $1 million in annual sales. Our company expo image was featured.
Are there any other women you admire, including anyone such as personal mentors or historical figures, that have helped steer your path?
In 2014, I actually wrote a blog post on the women who have most influenced me to be a leader and influencer of positive core values. My mother, grandmothers and aunts were my role models.
In your opinion, what does the local media industry need to thrive?
Local media should ensure they grow their hyperlocal media audience with trusted content using all media channels available. Their audience is their key asset.
Besides our legacy weekly shopper, we build loyal audiences through our websites, our email lists, our Facebook Groups, our YouTube channels, our social media business pages etc. We have 11 million monthly Pinterest views for our Quinceanera.com brand grown organically. We have built trust with our various audiences by being authentic in serving the needs of Latino families and communities throughout the U.S.
Do you have any advice, recommended reads, mantras or perspectives to share with other women working in the industry?
Advice from my grandmother and mom:
Serenity prayer: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
“When someone closes the door on you, just open the window.”
Be positive. Don’t make excuses. Don’t waste time being a victim. When you encounter a problem, fix it or find an alternative solution.
Recommended book: Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People.”
Sara Lomax-Reese
Sara Lomax-Reese is an American journalist, media executive and entrepreneur. Lomax-Reese is the president and CEO of WURD Radio, the only African-American-owned talk radio station in Pennsylvania. She is the co-founder of URL Media.
Can you tell us about a recent professional accomplishment that makes you particularly proud?
I am thinking a lot about institution-building right now. This year marks WURD Radio’s 20th anniversary as the only Black-owned talk radio station in both the city of Philadelphia and all of Pennsylvania. We have grown tremendously since I took over in 2010. And now, I am excited to be building a powerful leadership team that can take the station to the next level. Finally, after many years of managing scarcity, we have moved to managing growth. I am very proud that we have survived to reach this amazing 20-year milestone and have done so by centering our community’s needs, interests and voices.
Are there any other women you admire, including anyone such as personal mentors or historical figures, that have helped steer your path?
There are many. My mother (of course) who has been the staunchest supporter of me and WURD — even before I took the helm. She is always advocating for the people over profits. Ida B. Wells Barnett, pioneering journalist who was a one-woman crusader against lynching of Black people during the earliest part of the 20th Century. Her fearlessness, passion and tenacity inspires and guides me. My sister, Claire Lomax, who passed over last May, was my best friend, confidant and the best corporate lawyer I could ever have asked for. I learned so much from her about how to navigate legal contracts, HR challenges and embracing a “work hard, play hard” ethos.
In your opinion, what does the local media industry need to thrive?
The short answer is more financial support. This can be through a variety of sources: corporate advertising, philanthropy, consumer revenue, government investment. The reality is that local media are absolutely critical to educating, inspiring and empowering our communities. This is even more true for BIPOC media. I have been working in Black media my entire career and now run a local Black talk radio station, WURD, in Philadelphia. I know intimately the challenges of being chronically underfunded yet consistently providing high quality culturally specific information to a community that has been ignored, marginalized and caricatured by mainstream media for centuries.
We are at a pivotal point in this country where systems of oppression that are built on an entrenched racial hierarchy can either continue to be dismantled or reinforced. For too long, mainstream media has been complicit in maintaining the status quo. One of the biggest reasons I co-founded URL Media with Mitra Kalita in 2021 was to create a network of BIPOC-owned and led media organizations to expand the impact of local Black and brown media. Over the past two years, our network has grown from eight to 20 members. (WURD is one of the inaugural members). We work together to share content, amplify each other’s content and share revenues as a way to create greater impact and sustainability for all of our organizations. Our hope is that by working together, the URL network will begin to disrupt the power dynamics that have disempowered Black and brown media — and communities — for so long.
Do you have any advice, recommended reads, mantras or perspectives to share with other women working in the industry?
Everything changes.This has become my mantra these days. Whether it’s good or bad, change is constant. I’m a big believer in mindfulness practices like yoga and meditation as a way to stay grounded, present and clear in order to greet change – in all its forms – with a sense of peace and equanimity. (And to be clear, I am still a work in progress on this front).
Dana Piccoli
Dana Piccoli is the managing director of News is Out, a national queer media collaborative operated by Local Media Foundation. Piccoli is a writer, novelist and entertainment critic, and was a longtime writer and staff editor for what was once the most popular website for queer women’s pop culture. While there, she hosted the podcast “Let’s Process,” which had more than 250,000 downloads. She’s the former managing editor of the Bella Media Channel, a vertical of Bella Books Publishing that focuses on queer entertainment and pop culture. Dana is also the founder and editor-in-chief of Queer Media Matters.
Can you tell us about a recent professional accomplishment that makes you particularly proud?
Recently, I was invited to cover WorldPride in Sydney on behalf of News is Out. I spent nearly two weeks in Australia attending LGBTQ+ events and meeting people from around the world. I was the only woman journalist from the states in the group that was brought to cover the event. It was a truly magical experience. I wrote about it here.
Are there any people who identify as women you admire, including anyone such as personal mentors or historical figures, that have helped steer your path?
I’ve been lucky to work with and for some incredible women through the years. Karman Kregloe and Trish Bendix from my early days in the industry. Jessica and Linda Hill who brought me into the world of publishing and encouraged me to complete my first novel. Now, I’m lucky to have people like Nancy Lane and Penny Riordan, and the News is Out publishers, Eboné Bell, Tracy Baim and Lynne Brown, who teach me something new every day. My wife is also a huge inspiration to me!
In your opinion, what does the local media industry need to thrive?
It needs to stay nimble, to be willing to adapt and change. It also needs to reach its readers in the way they want to be reached, whether that be with the kind of content it shares or the way we share it.
Do you have any advice, recommended reads, mantras or perspectives to share with other women working in the industry?
Impostor syndrome is real — so many of the incredibly talented women I know fight against it. When I feel that way, I know that I’m not alone, and that even people who seem endlessly confident struggle with those feelings. But as Beyoncé says, “If there’s one thing I’m willing to bet on, it’s myself.”
Meet more trailblazing women in our past articles.
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