Leadership in Diversity Award

Journalists of Color Slack Admin Team

The JOC Slack Admin Team, composed of Aaron Williams, Sisi Wei, Tauhid Chappell, Erik Reyna, Julia B. Chan, Lam Thuy Vo and Lo Bénichou, manage a growing community of nearly 2300 journalism and media professionals.

The JOC Slack was created to build a community of journalists of color to commune, network, support one another and to spark necessary conversations about media diversity.

The Admin Team has created and supported a global community that has become a lifeline for many during the pandemic of 2020.

This community is immensely valuable to its members, ranging from a space to give practical career advice and conduct mental health check-ins to a space to talk about race and ethnicity in our newsrooms. The journalism industry is significantly better because of their efforts.

All of this magic is made possible by a small team of volunteer admins, several of whom are AAJA members. As the community has grown and evolved, the levels of moderation required by the admin team has also grown and evolved. It is for their dedication to creating and maintaining this safe space for journalists of color to meet, connect and unite that they are recognized for their Leadership in Diversity.