Maynard Family Updates: September, 2025

News, Growth, Awards, Accolades and Impact.

Every so often we get to highlight the incredible ongoing work and accomplishments of our Maynard Institute alumni and faculty, and for the first time we’re touting their achievements on our new website!

Maynard Institute faculty and alumni from our legacy programming continue to amaze us with their impactful work, their effect on their colleagues and peers, and the way they continue to shape journalism and the news.

Here are just some of the many achievements, awards, and career transitions of our extended network of Maynard Family.

Awards, Grants and Fellowships

Jahna Berry (Maynard 200 class of 2019), Chief Operating Officer at the Center for Investigative Reporting, received the 2025 NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists Leadership Award. The award recognizes those who have positively affected their newsrooms, increasing diversity and improving news coverage of the LGBTQ+ community. Berry will be presented with the award at the NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists’ annual National Convention, taking place in Atlanta from Sept. 4-7.  

Helina Selemon (Maynard 200 class of 2023) was awarded a National Press Foundation grant for Environmental Justice Reporting. Helina and fellow reporter Jordan Gass-Pooré will receive $10,000 for their four-part multimedia project investigating the human and economic toll of extreme heat on communities of color in New York City. “Their stories will explore efforts to expand mitigation and adaptation efforts to communities most in need, spotlight the systemic issues driving these deadly outcomes, and provide evidence-based responses that can be used to address them.” Their solutions-oriented reporting on one of the nation’s “most intense urban heat islands” are the actionable climate journalism that creates lasting community benefit.

Lottie Joiner Maynard (200 class of 2021) became a Carter Center Mental Health Journalism Fellow. Fellows “receive training and mentorship to responsibly report on a variety of topics related to mental health and substance use disorders.” As a freelance/independent journalist, Lottie will use this fellowship to “explore the link between response to stress and childhood trauma, including what stress looks like for Black women — at work, at home and in the community, and Black women’s response to that stress.”

In a landscape of rampant medical racism and the defunding of health data science, Lottie’s reporting on this topic is critically important to Black women’s health in America.

Kaila Philo (Maynard 200 class of 2023) became an African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund Fellow working with the National Trust for Historic Preservation. This fellowship supports work surrounding the preservation of Black history and culture in the United States, helping fellows develop and implement innovative approaches to preservation. Past cohorts have created documentary photography exhibitions, work supporting HBCUs, published work, and the preservation of historical sites.

Sudeep Reddy joined MSNBC as their Washington Bureau Chief after having been at Politico for 8 years as Managing Editor in North America. The Maynard 200 Mentor led a staff of 150 journalists at Politico and “launched dozens of new products, including newsletters, podcasts, live events and digital offerings; guided strategy and operations for Politico Playbook during the first Trump administration; and built the newsroom’s first audio team from the ground up,”  Scott Matthews, senior VP of newsgathering for MSNBC, said in a memo to staffers. Reddy will report to Matthews and work with Erin Zimmerman, vice president of newsgathering.

P. Kenneth Burns (Maynard 200 Class of 2022) was awarded First Place for an Education Feature from the Public Media Journalists Association for his story on Princeton High students building a STEM project to preserve an Indigenous Guatemalan Language. 

The article profiled students at Princeton High School utilizing AI and applied technology to save one of the world’s disappearing languages, and using their findings to enter the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow STEM Competition. Over 7,000 languages are currently being spoken in the world, but as many as 90% of them could disappear over the next century.

Esmy Jimenez (Maynard 200 Class of 2018) won yet another award for Lost Patients. A podcast, Lost Patients is “a deeply-reported, six-part docuseries examining the difficulties of treating serious mental illness through the lens of one city’s past, present and future.” Produced by KUOW and The Seattle Times, “with real-life testimonials from patients, families, and professionals on the front lines,” Lost Patients is solutions-oriented journalism that seeks to remedy a health system that is, itself, sick.

Dr. John Paul Higgins (Maynard 200 Class of 2018) was featured in ABC’s Our America series. On the heels of the successful release of their book “Black. Fat. Femme. Revealing the Power of Visibly Queer Voices in Media and Learning to Love Yourself” in March, Higgins embarked on a speaking tour and joined the ABC feature to highlight diversity within the LGBTQIA+ Community.

“I think representation is important to me because I didn’t have it when I was a kid,” they said in the special. “When I was growing up, I felt very isolated and alone in many of my own experiences. And so, when you start to feel like you’re the only person that’s going through something, you oftentimes feel like no one is truly going to understand your walk or what you’re going through.”

Angela Dennis (Maynard 200 Class of 2023) won three Golden Press Card Awards from the East Tennessee Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, First Place in General Reporting (Digital Only) for her story on the tragic burning of Elnathan Hall, a historic building on the campus of Black Knoxville College, First Place in Sports Reporting for a feature story on NFL prospect Zack Dobson and his struggle after losing his brother to gun violence, and Second Place in General Reporting for her story on Muslims who said their religious freedom was violated by the Sheriff’s office after University of Tennessee arrest during a protest against the genocide in Gaza.

Changing roles

Emily Elena Dugdale (Maynard 200 Class of 2022) became Managing Editor of the LA Public Press. After having utilized her investigative prowess at LAist, The Guardian, ProPublica, NPR and the LA Times covering the carceral system and law enforcement misconduct, Dugdale will turn her talents towards crafting a newsroom and investigative coverage that reflects the diversity of LA.

“Many newsrooms claim to want to write for a young, local BIPOC audience — LA Public Press not only does that, but the newsroom actually reflects what LA looks and feels like,” Dugdale said in the article by the LA Public Press announcing her role change. “There’s something not only special, but deeply necessary about a journalism organization full of people who are from the communities they write about.”

Michelle Zenarosa (Maynard 200 Class of 2023) also moved up in the LA Public Press, and is the new Editor In Chief of the local publication. After nearly three years as Deputy Editor at Reckon News, Zenarosa is excited to serve her home city and the “thousands of stories” that make up LA.

“Los Angeles isn’t just where I work—it’s home. I grew up here with parents who, together with their collective 15 siblings, are scattered across every corner of LA County. This means I know the city not just as a journalist, but as someone whose family is woven into its fabric,” Zenarosa said in an LA Public Press article.

Juan Michael Porter II (Maynard 200 Class of 2024) started a new position as the Communications Lead and Spokesperson at U.S. PLHIV Caucus. The group is made up of networks of people living with HIV (PLHIV), and works to abolish systems of oppression and center the experiences of people living with HIV.

Juan has been a vocal advocate for people living with HIV, and has documented his own experiences living with HIV and navigating the still-rampant stigma surrounding the medical condition, which often serves to denigrate or criminalize people living with HIV or AIDS, especially Black and gay men. Juan is the perfect fit for an agency that advocates for human rights and dignity for people often faulted for contracting a medical condition.

Making an Impact

Nancy Flores (Maynard 200 Class of 2022) won a “Texas Women Making a Difference” award from the Texas Association of Mexican American Chambers of Commerce for her work as publisher of Austin Vida. Nancy revived Austin Vida in 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, reimagining the digital Latinx news and culture site to amplify, inform and celebrate the Latinidad of the Austin community with culturally-competent news that centers the voices of nuestra gente,” the Latinx audience that makes up about 33% of the population of Austin, Texas.

Since Nancy took the helm, Austin Vida has also won the 2023 Best Latino Media Award from HABLA (Hispanic Business Advocates Business Leaders of Austin) and was a 2023 Finalist for Product of the Year from LION (Local Independent Online News Publishers) Local Journalism Awards.

Aallyah Wright (Maynard 200 Class of 2022) brought Sinners to Clarksdale and interviewed director Ryan Coogler, and became an Obama Foundation USA Leader.

After community organizer Tyler Yarbrough penned an open letter to the cast and crew of Sinners, the groundbreaking horror film set in Clarksdale, Mississippi and helmed by visionary director Ryan Coogler, Clarksdale native Aallyah joined in the efforts to bring the film to the town that gave it place. Although Sinners, which broke box office records shortly after its release in April, was set in Clarksdale, the Mississippi Delta town doesn’t have a movie theater, and residents would need to travel nearly 80 miles to see the film.

Their efforts paid off, and the cast and crew paid a visit to Clarksdale. Sinners was shown in multiple free screenings for several audiences of 1500 people at the Clarksdale Civic Auditorium and Aallyah, working for Capital B, hosted the Q&A session in her home town.

For this and her constant dedication to reporting on marginalized and majority-Black communities in the rural South, Aallyah became an Obama Foundation USA Leader. The program “for emerging leaders working in government, civil society, and the private sector who have demonstrated a commitment to advancing the common good,” connects cohorts of people working to make change in their communities, amplifying their impact.

Maynard 200 faculty and Maynard Communities of Practice Storytellers Community Co-Lead Advisor Aaron Glantz is once again working with the Guardian, investigating issues related to Trump administration policies and veterans. In August, Aaron published a piece abortion bans through the department of Veterans Affairs which would not include exemptions for rape or incest. This month, Aaron wrote about veterans decrying the arrest of a former Army sergeant after a protest against ICE, as well as the Trump administration rolling back federal efforts to combat human trafficking, threatening decades of progress in the fight against sexual slavery, forced labor, and child sex trafficking.

Aaron’s work highlights issues facing veterans and active-duty service members and those within the armed services who face challenges due to gender discrimination.

Maynard alumni and faculty continue to make us proud with their contributions to the field of journalism and to their communities, broadening our understanding of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the tapestry of American news.