Behind the byline: A newcomer prepares to navigate southwest Georgia

My journalism career began in my bedroom during the COVID-19 pandemic. I was a sophomore at the University of Florida and started writing for Gainesville’s student-run paper, The Independent Florida Alligator. I was 19 years old. My freshman year of college had been upended by the pandemic. I knew very little about the city I was living in, and suddenly, I was covering Gainesville while being mostly barred from venturing into it.

Boy, was it daunting.

My early reporting experiences consisted of shaky hands picking up the phone and calling Alachua County residents, business owners, city officials, activists and more who had no reason to trust me enough to tell their stories. Many did not. The first few times I got yelled at or hung up on, I remember shrinking into myself – considering a different life path even. Journalism is dying after all, right?

I once wrote that reaching out to potential sources as a journalist is like trying desperately to convince people of one’s humanity. It’s trying to convince people who feel jaded about or misunderstood and misrepresented by the news media that my sincere intentions are to listen to them and properly communicate the stories they want to tell.

But soon, something magic started to happen. Some people started getting convinced.

And as more people got convinced, Gainesville revealed itself to me in an intricate blend of culture and history. Through the stories I reported, the city’s rich community came to light. I listened to family members and friends of Stacey Williams, a youth football coach, pour their hearts out for hours about his greatness after his passing from COVID-19. I hung out with local high school students while they painted senior’s homes in their historically Black neighborhoods. I listened to their hopes and dreams for their community.

However, Gainesville’s darkness was  revealed in city-level failures and economic and racial disparities. I heard from small business owners who felt blindsided by pandemic restrictions and closures. I spent time with community leaders trying to find innovative solutions to combat food insecurity on the eastside of town. For years, their concerns were overlooked by city leaders.

I knew that my stories were serving a crucial role in illustrating both the dark and the light. I hoped that once I gained the trust of my sources, I was making a difference in their lives.

I hope that’s what I can do in Dougherty and its surrounding counties.

You may scoff at this, and I don’t blame you. I get that I’m coming from a very different place and trying to do a job that requires a deep knowledge of Albany and its community. I get that you may feel wary of the news. You may feel that journalism is burning out.

I can promise you that through Report for America, the national non-profit that brought me to Albany, local storytelling has never been more bright. RFA’s mission is to strengthen communities and democracy through local news that is “truthful, fearless, fair and smart.” Across the country, about 600 journalists with the same goals as me are working diligently to immerse themselves in communities and tell stories. We’ve made a commitment to the towns we’ve moved into.

My focus is on under-covered populations in southwest Georgia that have been economically hard hit over the last decade and to highlight problems and solutions.

I have so much to learn about this region of Georgia. I hope you will help me. My goal for the coming months is to meet as many people as possible – both in and out of a news context. Do you have a story you’ve been dying to tell? Are there concerns you have or issues you feel have gone unnoticed? Are there people in the community making a difference that you feel need recognition? I want to hear about it all. My inbox is always open. I’m excited to serve this community.