Fellows

Aminata Traore’-Morris (she, her) is an enthusiastic cultural curator. In 2018, she launched a literacy initiative, where she published her first children’s book entitled “Xavier the Prince: Step Into Africa.” With her collegiate education hailing from Lynchburg College and Florida Agricultural University, she prides herself in continuing to learn about various cultures and sharing her experiences. After contracting overseas for three years, Aminata worked in the library system in the Atlanta area for five years where she reconnected with her passion of writing. Her vision is to bring awareness to the cultural richness of her community through engaging and empowering community members to appreciate the valuable heritage. She currently resides in the Low Country on the Gullah Geechee Corridor with her family.

Antoinette Kerr (she, her) is a nonprofit leader, media correspondent, author of “Modern Media Relations for Nonprofits,” publisher of Bold & Bright Media and lover of all poetry. A native of Lexington, North Carolina, she spent her youth living in pockets of economically-distressed neighborhoods. She went on to study journalism and African American history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she began researching and writing about the influence of race, gender and politics. Kerr has provided training for the National Council of Nonprofits, The Nonprofit Marketing Guide, Bloomerang and The Nonprofit Academy. As a journalist, Kerr publishes stories through The Lexington Dispatch, Women AdvaNCe and The Public News Service.

Clarissa Brooks (she, her) is an alumnus of Spelman College, a journalist and a community organizer. Originally from Charlotte, North Carolina, Clarissa works to blend her love of community, ethical journalism and scholarship in a way that will create a better world. Clarissa has been an ONA HBCU Fellow, Know Your IX Campus Organizer and Summer Fellow for Students For Education Reform. She has been engaged in community organizing work and journalism for nearly five years. From mobilizing communities, hosting teach-ins, leading direct actions and developing policy, her love of community always comes first.

DaLyah Jones (she, her) is a reporter and producer for “All Things Considered” at Austin’s NPR Station, KUT 90.5. She’s also a co-host and creator of the “Two&Fro” podcast, which addresses trends and issues related to the contemporary Black, Southern experience. Raised behind the “Pine Curtain” of East Texas, this country girl found her way to “The City” after graduating from Texas State University in 2016 with a degree in electronic media and a minor in communication studies. DaLyah has worked and interned for KUT, Texas Standard, New York public radio (WNYC) and was a part of NPR’s Next Generation initiative.

She occasionally dabbles in music and culture writing for publications like Texas Monthly and Okayplayer when she’s not at the station. One day, she hopes to run her own media organization to further validate and provide solution-based reporting for marginalized communities in the South.

Denechia “Neesha” Powell-Twagirumukiza (she, they) is an activist writer living in Atlanta who conspires in the name of liberated Black futures, queer and transgender Black/indigenous/people of color power, solidarity economics and transformative justice/community accountability. For nearly a decade, they’ve been engaged in grassroots social justice movements and written about them.

Denechia’s writing has appeared online on Autostraddle, B*tch, Black Girl Dangerous Blog, Black Youth Project, Everyday Feminism, For Harriet, RaceBaitr, Scalawag and in the Grassroots Fundraising Journal and Monday: the Journal of the Jacob Lawrence Gallery at the University of Washington. They graduated cum laude from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism & Mass Communication.

Jen Deerinwater (she, her, they, them) is a Tsalagi-citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and a bisexual, two spirit, multiply-disabled journalist and organizer who covers the myriad of issues her communities face with an intersectional lens. She’s a contributor at Truthout and the founder and executive director of Crushing Colonialism.

Jen received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Southern California in Gender Studies and Political Science, a graduate certificate in Women in Politics and Public Policy from the University of Massachusetts-Boston and a M.S. in Communications Management from Simmons College.

Jen’s work can be found in publications such as Bitch, Rewire News, and In These Times to name a few. She has been interviewed for numerous outlets on her work, and The Advocate named Jen one of their 2019 Champions of Pride. She’s given presentations and trainings to a wide array of audiences on topics such as reproductive justice for Indigenous nations and disability accessibility in grassroots organizing.

While raised in rural areas of Oklahoma and Texas, and a nomad at heart, Jen currently lives in Washington, D.C.

Jonece “Starr” Dunigan (she, her) is an investigative reporter with Al.com, a statewide news organization in Alabama. During her three years with the company, Starr has crafted her own beat which focuses on Black, LGBTQ+ and immigrant communities. In February 2017, she started the Black Magic Project, which was a series of stories about Black individuals who embody the empowering and resilient spirit of those who started the Civil Rights Movement. The project has now grown into a multimedia venture with its own Facebook group, where members discuss issues and topics concerning the Black community.

Whether it is reporting on a breaking story or developing a social media plan, Starr believes all news outlets should have diverse voices in their content.

Rebecca Centeno (she, her) is a Mexican American activist media maker and journalist. Her work has been featured on Democracy Now!, The Washington Post, Last Real Indians, Free Speech TV, act.tv and Deep Dish TV. She co-founded Reels for Radicals, a screening series with Paper Tiger and Deep Dish TV. Her film “Earth Speaks,” about fracking on tribal lands was featured in a number of festivals including The Red Nation Film Festival and the Santa Fe Film Festival. In 2018, she co-founded Voces Sin Fronteras, a Facebook group that seeks to amplify the voices of asylum seekers traveling across Central America to seek a better life. Rebecca holds a Master of Fine Arts from the Integrated Media Arts program at Hunter College.