The 19th is proud to share the work of our fourth cohort of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper fellows. This groundbreaking, competitive fellowship seeks to create meaningful pipelines for those excluded from U.S. newsrooms.
Fellows spend a year working in reporting, audience engagement and news product with full-time salaries and benefits. They’re embedded on teams and receive mentorship, development opportunities and career coaching to prepare them for their paths after their fellowships.
Learn more about the Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Fellowship.
Explore fellows’ work by track:
Reporting • News Product • Audience Engagement
Reporting
The 19th’s three reporting fellows are embedded in the newsroom and rotate among editors to gain experience reporting across politics, breaking news, caregiving, health, education and LGBTQ+ issues, among other topics. They’re encouraged to pitch and report on stories that center on the communities that interest them.
Ebony JJ Curry
At The 19th, Ebony JJ reported on Black women, faith and politics, including Black Muslim women observing Ramadan, Nicole Boynton’s fight tied to Georgia’s Survivor Justice Act and Detroit seniors facing isolation. Her work connects people with policy, examining how systems shape everyday life, centering lived experience in each story.
In her next role, Ebony JJ seeks a newsroom rooted in equity, accountability, clear ethical standards and community impact. She aims to cover politics, policy and culture through a Black-centered lens, telling stories that connect people to policy, uplift voices in the Black community and drive national conversations. She is hoping for a remote role as a senior reporter or managing editor role in broadcast and/or print utilizing her robust background in multimedia journalism.
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Ebony JJ’s Favorite Story:
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Ebony JJ’s Favorite Story: She was sentenced to life in prison. A new law set her free after 23 years.
Gabriella Gladney
At The 19th, Gabriella wrote about the intersection of health and justice, exploring how systemic inequities shape the lives of women and marginalized communities. A highlight was reporting her story examining abortion access and BMI. She also reported on how Illinois prisons banning physical mail severed a vital connection between incarcerated people and their families. Through her fellowship, Gabriella discovered that empathy is her core strength as a journalist, allowing her to earn trust and bring humanity to complicated stories that demand it most.
In her next role, Gabriella is looking to cover health and culture, with a focus on enterprise storytelling that centers marginalized communities. She’s drawn to local nonprofit newsrooms whose values prioritize equity and community-driven journalism and is especially interested in roles where she can utilize her audio storytelling skills alongside her reporting.
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Gabriella’s Favorite Story:
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Gabriella’s Favorite Story: Delayed and turned away: How access to abortion can depend on your weight
Lauren Nutall
At The 19th, Lauren discovered an interest in health and environmental reporting. A highlight of her coverage was when she had the opportunity to write about new gas wells in Arlington that were located near a day care and elementary schools, prompting backlash from residents. She’s learned a lot about herself as a journalist, including her desire to cover environmental racism in some capacity in the future.
In her next role, Lauren would like to focus on investigative work. She is also hoping to expand her environmental and health reporting and cover immigration. Organizational values important to her include inclusivity in the workplace, clear ethical standards and care toward marginalized groups.
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Lauren’s Favorite Story:
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Lauren’s Favorite Story: New student loan limits could threaten diversity in nursing and public health programs
News product
The 19th’s news product fellow works directly with product managers and the chief product officer to build products and features that support The 19th’s business goals and align with our mission.
The news product fellow participates in team design thinking cycles, including conducting audience interviews, drawing data-driven insights about our audience and generating ideas that meet the needs they shared with us. The fellow takes features from ideation to completion, including project managing and communicating with stakeholders. They work closely with designers, who design features, and engineers, who build, test and launch products.
Kristina Ousley
At the 19th, Kristina has flourished at the intersection of creativity and technology. She has been integral to launching products and features that focus on website navigation, accessibility and usability. One highlight has been working on the site banner redesign, a large promotional feature that involves reimagining the 19th’s website to improve its design and impact. She learned how much she enjoys taking abstract ideas and turning them into user-friendly solutions.
In her next role, she would like to manage digital products that focus on enhancing experiences for visually and auditory impaired audiences.
Audience Engagement
The 19th’s audience engagement fellow works within the audience team to find, pitch and report on audience-focused journalism. They monitor real-time metrics and trends and cover social media shifts, where they work to engage audiences through alternative story formats and optimize and distribute The 19th’s journalism across platforms, including on our website, newsletters and social media.
Sierra Lyons
At The 19th, Sierra transforms site stories to punchy and visually aesthetic social media content across platforms. In the first half of the fellowship, she produced nearly 70 site stories for social media while also reporting and producing social-first stories. Her story on Florida A&M University’s first woman head drum major garnered nearly 60,000 engagements on Instagram, making it one of The 19th’s top three Instagram posts in Q4 2025. Sierra also helps produce the daily newsletter and compiles online trends that shape our storytelling.
In her next role, Sierra wants to intertwine her extensive reporting background with her newfound passion for audience engagement. She is open to both reporting and audience roles based in New York City or remote that will allow her to continue covering topics like Black Protestantism, Christian nationalism, race and politics.
Sierra’s favorite Instagram post: “Sinners” production designer Hannah Beachler criticized BAFTA’s handling of racial slur shouts from an attendee with Tourette syndrome.