Tracie Powell is the founder and CEO of The Pivot Fund, a venture philanthropy organization dedicated to investing $500 million into independent BIPOC-led community news.

Earlier this month, Tracie’s organization invested $150,000 into the Baltimore Beat, a black-owned and woman-lead alternative newspaper. The investment comes after The Pivot Fund has already committed to providing $2 million to news organizations serving Black, Hispanic, and Asian American audiences in Georgia.

In this episode of Black Journalists on Journalism, she talks with Zuri about how she came to be a professional journalist, her background covering media policy and legislative issues, and when she developed the idea for The Pivot Fund.

We also dig into why she invested in the Baltimore Beat. (Full disclosure: Zuri works in Baltimore at The Baltimore Banner.) And we talk about the advice she finds herself giving to news publishers trying to survive this media environment.

Follow Tracie on X @TMPowell or on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/traciepowell/.

Interested in being on the show? Email blackjournalists@zmcpodcasts.com.

More about Donnell Suggs: Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Donnell Suggs is the Editor in Chief of The Atlanta Voice, the city's longest-running Black-owned newspaper. A father and husband, Donnell has wasted years of his life supporting the New York Mets and Jets.

More about Zuri Berry: Zuri is the owner and principal producer of ZMC Podcasts. He has been a journalist for two decades, working as a reporter, producer, and editor, with stops in California, Boston, Charlotte, Washington, D.C., and now Baltimore. He’s originally from San Francisco.

Don't forget to support this podcast by visiting https://www.buymeacoffee.com/blackjournos and buying Zuri and Donnell a cup of coffee. It goes a long way! And thanks for listening!

Micha Green is the managing editor of The Washington Informer, one of the country’s top Black newspapers. Micha shares her journey from theater to journalism while highlighting the significance of the Black press in her career development. She also weighs in on the state of the industry.

Follow Micha on X @MichaPGreen.

Interested in being on the show? Email blackjournalists@zmcpodcasts.com.

More about Donnell Suggs: Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Donnell Suggs is the Editor in Chief of The Atlanta Voice, the city's longest-running Black-owned newspaper. A father and husband, Donnell has wasted years of his life supporting the New York Mets and Jets. Follow Donnell on Twitter @suggswriter.

More about Zuri Berry: Zuri is the owner and principal producer of ZMC Podcasts. He has been a journalist for two decades, working as a reporter, producer, and editor, with stops in California, Boston, Charlotte, Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. He’s originally from San Francisco. Find Zuri online at https://zuriberry.com.

We’re back from hiatus. We talk about the importance of Black representation in journalism and evaluate how the media fared covering the Claudine Gay debacle, Fulton County District Attorney Fannie Willis, the appointment of Raheem Morris as the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, and layoffs in journalism.

Interested in being on the show? Email blackjournalists@zmcpodcasts.com.

More about Donnell Suggs: Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Donnell Suggs is the Editor in Chief of The Atlanta Voice, the city's longest-running Black-owned newspaper. A father and husband, Donnell has wasted years of his life supporting the New York Mets and Jets. Follow Donnell on Twitter @suggswriter.

More about Zuri Berry: Zuri is the owner and principal producer of ZMC Podcasts. He has been a journalist for two decades, working as a reporter, producer, and editor, with stops in California, Boston, Charlotte, and Washington, D.C. He’s originally from San Francisco. Find Zuri online at https://zuriberry.com.