Where to start?… Day 1 of the new job, I woke up to a few holes in my newsroom. I had a skeletal editorial team, no production team and no admin team. The slate was practically wiped clean. I did in fact have an immediate and immense pressure to carry a 70 year old Black publication on my own. So, what would you do?
My favorite thing to brag about is that “I don’t know what I don’t know ” and that’s okay. What I do know is, time is of the essence. This is my year. And the key to success is to use my superpower – social capital – in order to support and grow Dallas Weekly.
I have been with DW since June of 2018. Let me be clear, I didn’t know anything about running a newsroom. I thought I knew something based on my previous experience in corporate. Then I got into this business for real, and was quickly humbled. The responsibility of Dallas Weekly is very serious and we only show you all the results, and not the (sometimes painful) strides to get them. I remember my late father-in-law, James A Washington stopping by the old DW office in the early days of Patrick and I taking over. I remember stopping him in the conference room to apologize. When he asked why, I confessed my opinions of the way he ran the business and how I immediately felt the nuance of being a Black business owner in this town. And now, like him in the final days of his management of DW, I am in charge of ensuring we meet our editorial pillars, I need to ensure you all actually see the story, and then, make money off of that viewership. No big deal right!?
But there are notions I’ve been taught like “under promise and over deliver,” “soup to nuts” and more recently, knowing the power of writing someones name in print. Social Capital is a real thing and it is the foundation of all businesses, and especially ones that identify as Black-owned. The late Jim Washington had enough weight in social capital to even lend some to both Patrick and I when we took over. I used it to make phone calls and walk into rooms that I would not have been able to if I wasn’t a “Washington.” And honestly, I still do, unapologetically. Because the key isn’t to just be at the table, you must do the work.
As the new Publisher of DW, I decided to change the model of our newsroom. I believe in the power of relationships so I dipped deep in my rolodex and reached out to the folks I have had conversations within my 7 years of DW. Everything in life is transactional, and you have to learn when to make the proposition. After hosting a successful Best of Black Dallas Awards, I knew now was the time to practice what I preach and dip back into the ecosystem.
The Black press has been a cornerstone of African American life for over 200 years, providing a vital platform for disseminating information, fighting for justice, and celebrating Black culture. DW has proudly served alongside local Black newspapers like the Dallas Post Tribune, Texas Metro News and the Dallas Examiner. And we have seen newer publications like Southern Dallas Magazine and Cosign Magazine rise in readership and serve the growing Black audience of the DFW. While they are essentially Dallas Weekly’s competition in the advertising market, we all contribute to the thriving ecosystem of Black Dallas through our media outlets.
I am excited to showcase Dallas Weekly in a new way, but with old tactics learned within this great institution. Partnerships with local entities like Dallas Free Press, Dallas Documenters and Apprentice Creative Space will allow DW to stay “tapped in” to communities and issues our audience needs to know about. And for national stories, we have a long-term partnership with the NNPA (National Newspapers & Publishers Assoc.) and DW’s own cohort, Word In Black. Simultaneously, we will draw new readers to DW through our new monthly events engaging with community members, DW Radio and annual events like our 2025 Minority Health Month Expo, Black Music Month and (of course) the Best of Black Dallas awards.
My father always said that there were two pillars in the Black community. The Black church and the Black press… but only one of them has to tell you the truth. – Patrick Washington, panel discussion at Pan African Connection, 2017.
Naturally, in a world of social media and seemingly a million local media outlets, we must be vigilant to separate from the pack. One could say that I am intimately aware of my competition in the DFW, and I don’t think I would be a good Publisher or business owner if I wasn’t. When it comes to Black and community news outlets in the DFW, everyone knows one another. Whether from near or afar, you know. And you know their work, but you may not really know their audience, which I don’t believe is necessary. Since my sole focus is on Black audiences, I never really cared who was looking at other media outlets, but why. My job is to draw eyes to journalism. And I realized that while journalism is informative, it is also art. People don’t come to DW because of the words in itself but the way the information is delivered. Like a song or a painting, our readers like the way the story resonates with them and that’s why they keep coming back.
Admittedly, I am getting into practice with reading leadership books at night, but by no means will you find my name on a book club. But this aspect about me doesn’t mean I don’t like to be informed. And I know I’m not alone. I’ve always believed in alternative learning and I have seen news successfully received the same way, through digital distribution. We’ve all seen the studies of people using their phones primarily to receive news and even then, you only have about 9 seconds to grab their attention for whatever your platform has to say. As a part of Word In Black, DW has garnered support from numerous institutions like the Knight Foundation, Deloitte and LMA Bloomlab, allowing DW to grow it’s digital presence exponentially with editorial tools and website widgets to ensure DW’s stories are targeting our core audience while simultaneously reaching a broader audience.
All in all, I look at the model of my newsroom like a luxury car… a 70 year-old luxury car. The journalism is the gas. Like the cars we drive, it’s something that always has to be new. It also must be the best quality in order to keep the car going and to sustain the value. The car itself is the machine that supports the newsroom. The social media, the videos, the networking events, the community outreach, the newsletters, the investments (both time and money) in to the business, the cease and desist letters, the sales calls, the accounting, the travel away from loved ones… all of that… that’s the car. And one cannot work without the other.
2025 is the year of IMPLEMENTATION for Dallas Weekly. A lot of ideas that were “in the air” will be grounded, and I’m so excited to show my version of DW storytelling and community service. I take pride every day, that I contribute to Dallas Weekly’s legacy and sustainability as the #1 news source for Black Dallas, and I welcome the challenge of meeting the communities DW serves whenever and wherever they are.
The future is bright, and I am ready to work.
In service.
The Publisher
