By Micha Green
AFRO D.C. and Digital Editor
mgreen@afro.com
The publication is pleased to welcome two new members of the editorial team to help continue the strong storytelling legacy of the media company. Longtime AFRO writer Alexis Taylor has joined the editorial team as news editor and recent graduate Nadia Reese is entering the journalism workforce as the editorial assistant.
“Alexis has kept the AFRO close as she tried other ventures that interested her, but we always knew the AFRO was and remains her first love. She spent her first day on the job traveling to and from D.C. to video the Black History Month program at the White House. This is just a taste of what AFRO followers will enjoy with her leadership,” said AFRO Managing Editor the Rev. Dorothy Boulware. “She and D.C. Digital Editor Micha Green are going to light the AFRO brand on fire. I love the energy and passion of the young women who are winning every day.”
“Nadia’s got courage and nerves of steel. She has taken on the Herculean task of being assistant to all the editors and she’s still smiling,” Boulware continued.
While she might be a newcomer to the professional world of reporting and media production, Reese is no stranger to hard work or journalism. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Bethune-Cookman University, a Historically Black University in Daytona Beach, Florida. At her university, Reese served as editor-in-chief and managing editor of the student magazine and a reporter, layout editor and news editor for the student newspaper The Voice of the Wildcats.
In addition to her work in print journalism, Reese interned for the Orlando International Film Festival, was the social media intern and contributing writer for Arab America and worked as a grip for a short film called, “Isn’t she Lovely.”
“Working for the AFRO (one my first positions outside of college), is a privilege and a blessing to be a part of that I know will help me to become one of the best in my field,” Reese said.
Taylor has a wealth of various experiences that makes her qualified for the position, and, like Reese, a valuable addition to the team.
The new news editor’s AFRO history dates back to college.
“Frank Dexter Brown showed me ‘Soldiers Without Swords,’ at Morgan and I fell in love with Black Press. He was my journalism professor and instilled an expectation of high quality journalism. He referred me to the AFRO and recommended me as an intern,” Taylor said, thinking back to when she first began at the AFRO more than a decade ago.
Since then, Taylor has had some pretty incredible coverage with the AFRO, including her first day at the AFRO when she wrote three briefs, or her first article in the AFRO on Baltimore food deserts, or her first week as a staff writer when she interviewed the then head of the NAACP in Annapolis as he drummed up efforts to eliminate the death penalty. One notable moment in her career was interviewing John Lewis in 2012.
“It has been an absolute honor to contribute to the AFRO American Newspapers since June 2011. The AFRO has helped me hone my journalism skills while also affording me the opportunity to grow as an individual,” Taylor said.
In addition to her consistent contributions to the AFRO, Taylor has worked as an educator, teaching Kindergarten and then art for three years each. Even when not full time with the AFRO, Taylor has been seen covering protests, contributing to Word in Black pieces and her first day as news editor led her to covering events at the White House.
“The most powerful thing I can do with all of this voice, opinion and attitude is use it to make change for my people. I often visit the archives and read the work of those who went before me. Those writers were literally putting their lives on the line to write truths that readers were putting their lives on the line to read. When I hear of Pullman porters distributing Black newspapers through the South– even at the threat of Klansmen– I understand the power of the Black Press,” Taylor said, considering her new role in relation to the rich, brave history of the Black Press.
“I am humbled each time I think of the fact that I’ve been given an opportunity to add to the legacy of an institution that was founded by a former slave and Civil War soldier,” the AFRO news editor continued.
“At the end of my days, I know that my work with the AFRO American Newspapers will have been one of the most important things I could have done with my talents and time. I will forever be grateful to the AFRO for allowing me to join the ranks of the Black Press,” Taylor said.
AFRO Publisher the Rev. Dr. Frances Toni Draper expressed her excitement for the Taylor and Reese’s appointments.
“We are thrilled to have both Alexis and Nadia join the talented AFRO team, as news editor and editorial assistant respectively. Alexis has been writing for us for a decade, and has a wealth of journalism experience,” Draper said. “As a 2021 graduate of Bethune-Cookman University and editor of her campus newspaper, Nadia brings lots of energy and a fresh perspective to our work. I am looking forward to working closely with both of them, as we continue to bring news that matters to the communities we serve.”
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