Lauren Williams
Managing Editor
Vox.com
Syracuse University, M.A.
University of Virginia, B.A.
Lauren Williams is the managing editor of Vox.com. Though only a few years old, the general interest news site, which “explains the news,” has become a leading destination to find out what’s happening in politics, public policy, world affairs, pop culture, science, and business. The Pew Research Center lists the Vox in the top 10 on it’s 12th Annual State of the News Media report on the most visited news sites that originated online.
Williams has worked at some of the most innovative and groundbreaking organizations. Prior to joining Vox, she was story editor at Mother Jones. She also served as associate editor then deputy editor at TheRoot.com. For two years she was the lifestyle editor for AOL’s Black Voices.
Williams believes women of color have a tougher go in the news industry. “I feel that there is a cushion for messing up that doesn’t seem to exist as much for Black women,” she said in a panel discussion at the joint convention of the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists with All Digitocracy’s Tracie Powell.
The Path
After graduating from the University of Virginia, Williams worked as a reporter for Daily Press. She was also an editor at MenuPages and Sterohyped.com.
Noteworthy
When Dori J. Maynard, president of the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education died, Williams wrote this to express the great debt young journalists owed veterans like Maynard:
“I was just a baby journalist [when Dori] emailed me to say that she liked the fledgling blog I clumsily wrote for at the time, and said lovely things about it and me…Her work definitely made a difference in the industry on a grand scale, but even on a micro level, her efforts helped improve the quality of journalism. The second time she emailed me, it was to point out an error in one of my blog posts. I’m surely not the only young journalist who got such a nudge from her. Thank you, Dori, for the big — and small — things you did to make us all better. Journalists and news consumers alike owe you a grand debt.”
@laurenwilliams tweeted
https://twitter.com/laurenwilliams/status/672147364031909889
