Building a personal brand is one of those necessary evils of keeping a media job, and one I’ve spent most of my career being pretty terrible at. That’s all to say: I’m not even going to pretend that I know what the hell I’m talking about, but take Tamia Fowlkes’s advice on how best to do it. She’s got that certain je ne sais quoi on camera where she could say the ABCs and it would still be the most interesting thing you’d see on your feed. Brittney talked to her about how she does it and how she’s used her wizardry to turn a legacy local newspaper into a social media success story.

Plus, ESPN's messy send-off for a 27-year veteran, an NBC News exec shake-up, and our usual roundup of notable media jobs fresh off the press.

xoxo,

Stephanie

By Brittney McNamara

When I worked at local newspapers from 2013 to 2016, we had a few digital requirements. 1. We had to post on Twitter at least once a day. 2. We had to write “web updates,” little snippets of reporting to appear on the newspaper’s website, even though the full print stories wouldn’t be there. And 3. Toward the end of my stint, we had to shoot grainy videos through a third-party app that was impossibly confusing and couldn’t have been engaging or useful to anyone watching those pixelated nightmares. 

Newspapers are notoriously slow to change, and while most have moved well beyond the prehistoric era of my day, many are still struggling to keep up with what audiences expect now. For a glimpse of what that transition can look like when it’s actually done well, they need look no further than what Tamia Fowlkes is doing at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 

As the paper’s public investigator, Tamia takes on public-interest stories that tangibly impact her community, translating them expertly across platforms in a way that’s both fun and informative. And she’s built her own personal brand outside the paper, engaging with followers on social media and through her Substack. Tamia recently won the National Association of Black Journalists’ Michael J. Feeney Emerging Journalist of the Year Award, so I caught up with her to talk about community journalism, bridging the newsprint to social media gap, and the benefits of being yourself.

Congratulations on winning Emerging Journalist of the Year at NABJ! What does that award mean to you?

It meant so much. I joined NABJ when I was a freshman in college and my mom had suggested that I join. I just loved it. Looking at the history of that award, Michael J. Feeney, who the award is named after, was a journalist who was so impactful early on in his career and was writing so many cool stories about the intersection of race and culture and trying to bring that into his journalism. Other people who I look up to, like Rachel Scott, who's an anchor on ABC, won this award. I think it's just a beautiful community to be a part of and I'm so honored to carry that legacy. 

I think NABJ is just such a safe space for Black journalists in a world where it can be hard to be a Black person sometimes. There are a lot of oppressive things in history that have gone on to make access to this industry and to public media roles kind of difficult. It's so great to have a community of people who are not only sharing a similar experience, but doing really thoughtful and incredible work about climate and environment, politics and health, and all of the things that affect us each and every day. I just feel so excited to be a part of that group.

Tell me about your current role and how you landed there.

I am a public investigator at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. My role primarily focuses on doing public service-oriented stories. Our team’s motto, which is under the umbrella of our investigative team, is no story is too big or too small. In that mindset, we take questions and tips from readers and from people in the community who have just run into a problem that they can't resolve on their own and they're looking for some assistance, either to find answers or to get some level of accountability. 

One of the first stories I did when I got to our paper was about a 98-year-old woman who had gotten an eviction notice. She lived in her building for 16 years and got an eviction notice randomly one day after paying her rent and keeping up with all of the other additional payments that were tied to her lease. We were able to identify that this apartment building was trying to turn the property into a multigenerational living facility and a lot of people had just gotten random eviction notices … to get them out of the building. We were able to resolve that for her to prevent her from having to leave the property. I've done a lot of stories on disability and barriers to accessibility, so I talk a lot to people who’ve faced wheelchair repair delays or who have problems with elevators. Just those practical things that we don't always think about every day, but when you run into a situation that kind of tears your life apart or makes you so stressed and panicked and you feel like you can't handle it on your own—our stories aim to resolve some of those fears and to get answers for people. 

Beyond that job description, I've done a lot of politics coverage and also a lot of Gen Z-oriented coverage. They also let me do pop culture moments—I think a month into my job I interviewed Chappell Roan, like a week after ‘Midwest Princess’ came out. I love repping the Midwest papers. It's where I grew up, it's where I'm from, so I love finding all the different angles to cover through my job.

I’m really interested in the job title, “public investigator.” Thinking about my own local news market, I’m not sure I could call up anyone at the paper and have them help me in this way, but I think that’s a pretty central role of journalism—problem-solving in a community. How do you think about your specific role in the larger landscape of community journalism?

We're really working to rebuild community trust in my paper. Beyond the team that I'm on, we have a neighborhoods team that's kind of embedded in communities. They're consistently having community listening sessions and doing activities with community members, because a lot of times, people feel as if journalists parachute into their neighborhoods when something terrible happens. 

I do think [trust] is something that's been lost across the country. I think we are really trying to hold strong and maintain that culture of public service through journalism for our community, making sure that people are informed, that they know what's going on in their neighborhood and that they feel like they have somewhere to turn when they cannot find the answer and desperately need someone to look for it.

You’ve spoken about wanting to be a journalist since you were young, writing in your 8th grade graduation speech that you’d be a reporter. Do you believe in the idea of a dream job? Would you consider this one?

It's funny. I talk to a lot of students now and a lot of young people who are trying to plot out their career and they're always asking, like, “what's your dream job?” I always say that I don't necessarily dream of labor, but I think if I'm going to work, this is such a beautiful job to have. Every time that I go out and I serve my community through writing a story about someone, or help someone feel seen, or speak to someone who's never been considered a valuable voice in a conversation about, let's say, something like politics or housing or some change that's happening in their community—I feel just deeply empowered by that. In a world where it’s so easy to just Google something or look something up on TikTok or to not be curious at all about why some change is happening in your community, those people remind me all the time how valuable it is to know something for sure. If I'm able to be of service to people, I think that's the most exciting part.

I worked at local newspapers from 2013 to 2016 and we were only just starting to have conversations about video and social media in a really bumbling way. How are you creating engaging content for a newspaper audience in 2026?

I treat [videos] like a two-way conversation as much as I can and I think that has applied a lot to the journalism that I do now. I'm not trying to put on a front or put on a broadcast voice so I can talk to people. If you see me on the street, it’s the same tone that I'm going to communicate with you in person and I think that's what people want to see. They know that a normal person is going out and collecting this information for them and then delivering it back to the community. We’re functioning in a world where there's so much misinformation, there are so many fake videos floating around online that are produced by AI, so I just try to be as human as possible. I'm trying to scale back in and be even more casual or bring people along the journey in my reporting process even more these days because I know how difficult it can be to trust what you're seeing on your phone. I try to remind people that I'm just like you, I live in the same neighborhoods that you do. I have a lot of the same concerns, but I'm gonna give you a straightforward, unbiased perspective on what's happening in your community, and how you can participate as well.

That’s a huge thing we hear from Gen Z—they want more authenticity; they want journalists they can identify with rather than the traditional broadcaster. Do you find that approach works across generations? Or do audiences of different ages want different things? 

I feel really honored to work for a legacy publication in my community and I think there are a lot of bridges to be built between social media and traditional news. I don't think we need to abandon either. I think it's really cool when you can show people that I'm talking about this one story on social media, but I've done a dozen others that you can see on our website or if you pick up the paper. A lot of people will comment on my [videos] like, ‘OK, what happened next?’ or ‘Why haven't you covered this part?’ I'm like, I did and here's the link! So I think it just allows for more consistent communication with our readers and, as much as I can get people returning to the paper or returning to our website, that's exciting because I don't know if they know it exists. 

And at the same time that you’re introducing yourself to the community by way of these videos, you also have your own social media presence and a Substack where you’re maintaining your own brand. 

I'm a person who has a wide variety of interests. It's not all news for me. I love pop culture, I love entertainment, I love the arts. I wanted to be a multifaceted reporter and I also wanted to present myself as authentically and transparently as possible. I incorporate my favorite colors in all of my social media posts—I was a Canva queen in college, so I just like graphic designing and playing around with visuals. I really like collaging in my free time so I try to translate that to a virtual medium. I just like to have fun with it, honestly. A lot of people get so stressed out about social media and branding and thinking about it as, you have to do it this one specific way. Whenever I feel stuck or like I'm forcing myself to post a certain way, I have to scale back and think again, what am I doing here? This is just supposed to be a fun way to express myself and to show people who I am. 

What are your favorite spaces online? 

I grew up such a fan of Teen Vogue. That's what made me want to be a journalist. I love any publication that's talking about how young people are experiencing things in the world. It was a pivotal, important part of my journalism journey, so I do continue to read their work. 

I’m on Substack all the time posting my own stories, but I also have a lot of friends who have great newsletters, so I'm there constantly. I'm a real podcast queen, and an NPR fanatic. I listen to ‘It's Been a Minute’ every single week. I love Rachel Martin's ‘Wild Card.’ I really like ‘Keep It,’ which was founded by Milwaukee native Ira Madison III and is now hosted by Louis Virtel and Nina Parker—I love, love, love that podcast. I listen to Politico’s ‘Playbook.’ If anything, lately I've been trying to tell myself, “You can have just thoughts and breathe. You do not have to constantly be consuming information.”

I keep up with my local publications just so I can know what's happening in my community. I read The Atlantic and The New Yorker a lot and I still keep up with The Washington Post. I really love all the climate coverage that Inside Climate News and Grist do. I think a lot about climate policy and environmental policy these days and that's also translating into the books that I'm reading. I'm reading ‘All We Can Save,’ which is a climate solutions book that has a bunch of different female essayists. I found that to be really enlightening. I feel like I'm consuming too much, so I'm trying to read more books and crochet in my free time.

Finally, what’s your phone screen time?

I don't know if I should be proud, but my screen time is only 5 hours and 42 minutes on average a day. Mine turns on at like 10 p.m. and then I have to go physically hit it against my phone in the morning to get back on my apps. I try to get through breakfast without being on social. I'll still listen to ‘Up First’ from NPR, and I get my daily news fix in, but I try to stay off of Instagram and TikTok because I feel like it spikes your cortisol and we don't need to be doing that early in the morning. 

The Brick has created such a healthy relationship between me and my phone. I just didn't realize how much I would reach for it whenever I would have a moment of brain emptiness. I feel a lot more intentional about my phone usage. I try to use that time instead to call my friends or to journal or to just be a little bit more grounded.

What we’re seeing and hearing around the industry.

CBS’ bet on video. Earlier today I went to Norah O’Donnell’s taping of her new-ish health podcast, ‘Healthful,’ which was the first episode she hosted in front of a live audience. Bari Weiss was also tucked away in the back of the room watching diligently as Norah spoke with Aly Raisman about her advocacy work raising awareness for women’s health issues. Mind you, Norah taped this segment right after we’d all finished doing a brisk 45-minute workout, led by Kira Stokes, and still looked angelic on camera in her workout clothes (iconic, really).

The event today is one way CBS is elevating its video offerings and tapping some of its highest-profile women. CBS also announced today that Drew Barrymore will launch a new YouTube series called ‘Personal Space’ that debuts this fall. The show’s vibe will be similar to a video podcast — there’s no live audience, and the celebrity interviews will run longer than the ones on her daytime talk show.

That’s cold, ESPN! Suzy Kolber, who spent 27 years as one of ESPN's most recognizable on-air talents before getting caught up in the company's June 2023 layoffs, finally opened up about how her exit went down three years later, on the "Sports Media with Richard Deitsch" podcast. ESPN initially gave her seven days to clear out her desk, which really amounted to four once a holiday weekend ate into it; executives eventually gave her more time. But the most damning part of the whole ordeal was learning that ESPN didn't plan to publicly acknowledge her nearly three-decade run at all. She ended up posting her own goodbye and asking Adam Schefter to help amplify it. It's worth a listen, because it's also a cautionary tale about what happens when you tie your identity to your full-time job and then have the rug pulled out from under you. I've been there myself!

Have a tip for me? Send it to stephanie@la-fronde.com or my Signal if you want to keep things confidential (itsstephwill.94).

Moves around the industry. McClatchy News made some significant cuts to some of its papers, including the Miami Herald, where 30 roles were eliminated, and the Lexington Herald-Leader, where 12 people were laid off. There are now just two people left covering city and state government for the Herald-Leader. I’ve also noticed that a lot of women journalists were impacted by the cuts today, with Herald-Leader local business and regional economic development reporter Piper Hansen, Kentucky education reporter Monica Kast and political reporter Hannah Pinski announcing their layoffs. There are more unconfirmed reports out there, but in keeping with our policy here at La Fronde, we don’t share names unless the person has announced their layoff publicly. Out of respect, but also for the sake of accuracy.

Meanwhile, over at NBC News, VP of programming Janelle Rodriguez announced that she’s stepping down from her role. She was one of the masterminds behind the launch of NBC News’ streaming service and worked at the network for nearly 12 years. Catherine Kim, who will take over some of her responsibilities, was named EVP of editorial and content.