The 19th is proud to welcome its fourth cohort of the Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Fellowship — a program designed to build a meaningful pathway into journalism for those historically excluded from U.S. newsrooms.
“This fellowship exists to ensure that HBCU alums don’t just enter journalism, but that they also have the tools to thrive,” said Kari Cobham, The 19th’s director of fellowships and a graduate of Bethune-Cookman University. “These fellows continue to bring exceptional talent and perspective to our newsroom, and I’m thrilled to welcome the new group.”
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The 2025-26 fellows include:
- Sierra Lyons, audience engagement fellow and Florida A&M University graduate
- Ebony JJ Curry, reporting fellow and Alabama A&M University graduate
- Gabriella Gladney, reporting fellow and Spelman College graduate
- Lauren Nutall, reporting fellow and Howard University graduate
- Kristina Ousley, news product fellow and a graduate of Dillard and Florida A&M universities
Named for the “mother of African-American journalism,” the yearlong fellowship offers recent graduates and mid-career HBCU alums full-time remote roles in reporting, audience and news product. Fellows earn $75,000 and receive generous benefits, including health insurance, paid time off, a 401(k) match and merit bonus. Learn more about the fellowship.
Fellows are embedded on newsroom teams and receive wraparound support: mentorship, career coaching, life and journalism skills workshops, National Association of Black Journalists membership and conference access, professional development, hardship support, personalized job search guidance and a growing alumni network. They also connect throughout the year at retreats and networking mixers across the country.
Since the fellowship’s launch in 2022, The 19th’s fellows have made a lasting impact — from launching a voter dictionary and the Surviving the News series for social media to rolling out new photo layouts that expand our visual storytelling, and collaborating on a powerful story about the Black women who fed, housed and protected voting rights activists in 1965 Selma.
Alums have gone on to work for outlets and organizations including The Marshall Project, The Baltimore Banner, The Trace, The Nashville Banner and Disability Culture Lab.
Explore the work of the previous cohort at The 19th as well as the work of 2023-24 fellows and the 2022-23 inaugural cohort.
Audience Engagement Fellow
Sierra Lyons is The 19th’s audience engagement fellow. She previously reported at the intersection of faith, justice, race and education for Teen Vogue, New York Magazine, Huffington Post and Scalawag Magazine, among others.
Prior to The 19th, Sierra was part of Sojourners Magazine’s reporting cohort, where she covered the 2024 election, and served as a communications consultant for the National Center for Grow Your Own, a nonprofit supporting future educators.
As an editorial fellow at The 74 Million, Sierra covered national K–12 education and contributed to daily audience engagement and production across social media platforms. Both Sojourners and The 74 are part of The 19th News Network.
Sierra was an investigations intern at NPR through the Ida B. Wells Society and participated in NPR’s Next Generation Radio program, producing a digital and audio story about food insecurity and climate change in her hometown.
She also interned at The American Prospect, where she reported on voter disenfranchisement in Florida, food insecurity in South Carolina and supported the outlet’s fact-checking and daily social media content.
Sierra is a native of Pensacola, Florida, and a graduate of Florida A&M University, where she studied broadcast journalism and served as opinions editor and copy desk editor of the campus newspaper, as well as a writer for the university magazine. She’s now based in Brooklyn, New York City.
Reporting Fellows
Ebony JJ Curry is one of The 19th’s reporting fellows. She was previously an NBCUniversal fellow covering Black entrepreneurship and innovation in Detroit’s growing tech sector.
She was also a senior reporter at the Michigan Chronicle, where she led political coverage as a Democratic correspondent and press pool member for the Biden-Harris and Harris-Walz campaigns. Her work highlighted community advancement across politics, tech and social justice, while growing the Chronicle’s digital presence as its daily newsletter curator and social media on-air talent.
Ebony brings a unique blend of experience working in newsrooms and government. She has held communications roles with the Detroit City Council, Michigan Senate Democrats and the Executive Office of the Governor, and contributed to Medill News Service, ABC12 News in Flint, Michigan, and NBC affiliate WAFF-48 in Huntsville, Alabama.
Ebony holds a Bachelor’s in communications media from Alabama A&M University and a Master’s in journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.
Gabriella Gladney is one of The 19th’s reporting fellows and has a background in audio and reporting.
She was most recently a producer at SiriusXM, where she worked across shows like 99% Invisible, Atlas Obscura and Brown Enough. She wrote and produced more than 50 Atlas Obscura episodes on cultural history, geography and overlooked places. She also supported editorial workflows for 99% Invisible and produced an episode on Black beauty supply stores.
Gabriella began her audio career as a student at Spelman College, where she created The Blue Record, a podcast and media platform for student-led storytelling.
In 2024, Gabriella was a reporting fellow for City Bureau, where she focused on how unhoused residents in Chicago navigate voting and civic life. She later helped produce a live community forum connecting local leaders with impacted residents. Her freelance writing and reporting have since appeared in Block Club Chicago and Windy City Times.
Gabriella publishes a personal newsletter, Lazy Natural, where she deconstructs modern beauty culture. In 2025, her newsletter was the recipient of the Ann Friedman Weekly Fellowship.
Gabriella holds a bachelor’s from Spelman and is an alum of Spelman’s Social Justice Fellowship. She’s from Houston and now lives in Chicago.
Lauren Nutall is one of The 19th’s reporting fellows and a 2025 Pulitzer Center reporting grant recipient. Her Pulitzer project will focus on the school-to-deportation pipeline.
Before joining The 19th, she was part of the Ida B. Wells Society’s Investigative Internship Cohort at The Dallas Morning News, where she reported on the devastating Kerr County flooding and Trump protests.
Lauren began her journalism career as a high school freshman after writing a project on school budget cuts so severe teachers couldn’t afford printer ink.
She went on to intern at Black Enterprise for a year, publishing more than 200 stories on Black entrepreneurship and business.
Lauren later worked at the Washington, D.C., bureau of CBS News, contributing to investigations into the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump, his top campaign donors and voter fraud claims.
Lauren recently earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and international affairs from Howard University, where she wrote for Howard News Service and was an investigative reporter for The Hilltop, the university’s student newspaper.
Product and Technology Fellow
Kristina Ousley is The 19th’s news product fellow and a doctor of science candidate in information and interaction design at the University of Baltimore. Her research explores how augmented reality can enhance cognitive abilities in young adults through immersive media, human-computer interaction and design thinking.
A proud two-time HBCU graduate — Dillard and Florida A&M universities — Kristina was previously a user experience program manager at Healthcare Service Corporation, where she led a cross-functional team to redesign enterprise digital products, improve customer satisfaction and launch a career readiness website.
As a creative technologist at the University of Baltimore, she built accessible government websites, extended reality (XR) applications and data visualizations for sectors like urban planning and e-commerce.
She has served as creative director at the American Journal of Evaluation, applying human-centered design to multimedia content. She has also produced news segments, social campaigns and visual content for small businesses and nonprofits.
Kristina is on the board of the American Institute for Graphic Arts, mentoring design students and producing event media. Kristina is based in Baltimore.
Please join us in welcoming Ebony, Gabriella, Kristina, Lauren and Sierra to The 19th!
Meet our 2025-26 fellows at our September 11 networking mixer with the Journalists of Color community during ONA25, the Online News Association’s annual conference, in New Orleans.
