About

You made it here? Nice! Here's a little more about En(title)d! and how it came to be. 

During the hell hole of 2020, founder Joanne Griffith started checking in on other leaders of color in media to see how they were holding up with *waves hands* everything. Turns out, not so great. After many of the same discussions, she thought it made sense to bring folks together for some peer-to-peer support. The first event took place in August, 2020 and have continued every month since - a mixture of open forum conversations and guest speakers on everything from protecting your mental health to how to find a mentor when you're a leader. Check out the Q&A with Joanne for more. 

Thinking of headlines or catchy names for pretty much anything is not in my talent set. Doesn't stop me from trying, though! So here's what happened. The word "title" was stuck in my head for about a week, which led to "entitled" as in, when you are *given* a title ... like when you receive a promotion or a role with more responsibility. But it also means "believing oneself to be inherently deserving" - and while this has some pretty negative connotations ("uuuggggghhhh, that kid is so e-n-t-i-t-l-e-d...")here's the thing: we ARE entitled and deserving of training and support to be the best leaders we can be, which is a good thing. So, that's how the name came about. The exclamation is for flourish.  

Because without good leaders in newsrooms and in the midst of content production,  journalism and storytelling suffers. Audiences don't get the kind of news and information they need and deserve to make important decisions about life. Or they just don't see the fullness of their experience reflected in the media. People of color leave the industry. Key decisions on everything from hiring and talent development to how money is spent covering diverse communities goes unchecked. In other words, it gets messy.  And we can't tackle any of these issues until leaders of color at least see others like them in the industry who can relate and some real change starts to happen. 

No. By day I'm a newsroom leader who has spent years championing equity, diversity and inclusion across platforms. But I also believe in community and En(title)d! is a way I hope others can find a space to be safe, to share tools and feel supported in their leadership journey.   

The meetings are for people who identify as people of color looking for a space to speak with their peers. But everyone is welcome to sign up for the newsletter to better understand the needs of leaders of color and to support their colleagues.