Pinay Jones

Pinay Jones is the Project Manager for BloomLab’s Technology Shared Services, a Knight x LMA initiative providing hands-on technical and strategic support to a network of independent Black-owned and community news publishers.

At BloomLab, Pinay handles the operational backbone of the program — client and vendor coordination, scheduling, task management, and program communications — working closely alongside Technology Director Apryl Pilolli across 15+ active newsrooms.

She brings a background rooted in research, storytelling, and community-centered work. She holds a degree in Political and Social Thought and Spanish from the University of Virginia, where she got her start in digital media through podcasting as well as oral and archival history research. She went on to support oral history initiatives at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture before joining Democracy Fund’s Public Square program, where she worked on philanthropic funding strategies focused on local news and racial equity in journalism.

Pinay is drawn to work that lives at the intersection of community, equity, and infrastructure — the kind that makes other important work possible. She believes in the power of narratives and storytelling to advance positive social change and views independent local news as a critical pillar of a thriving democracy. She is thrilled to be doing this work at the cutting edge of media technology, where new tools are actively reshaping what’s possible for community newsrooms.