13 Women Of Color In Journalism You Should Know

How many women of color in journalism do you know about? If you can't come up with a lot of names, it's probably not entirely your fault: A new report found that female reporters of color are severely underrepresented in media outlets across America.

The 2018 Status of Women in the U.S. Media study, by the Women's Media Center, found that women of color make up only 12.6% of local TV news staff, 7.95% of print newsroom staff, and 6.2% of local radio staff. For the sake of comparison: People of color make up 38.7% of the U.S. population and women make up 50.8%, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

But while those figures paint a bleak picture, it's also true that there are many amazing female reporters of color out there who are enriching the media landscape with their work.

This International Women's Day, Refinery29 decided to highlight 13 women of color in journalism whose names you should know. They are breaking barriers everywhere from TV to the digital media, creating spaces by and for people of color, or simply reporting issues that have been largely overlooked by traditional outlets.

The truth is that America is changing, so it's crucial for media outlets to employ people who belong to communities that have been historically underrepresented in newsrooms. As CNN anchor Ana Cabrera stressed in an interview with Refinery29 last fall, journalists of color "provide perspective, provide a voice that might be lacking."

"Of course, there are some issues that hit closer to home than others, but because of that, there's more passion in telling those stories. That doesn't necessarily mean that I'm going to cover them with an agenda in mind," she said. "I'm going to do perhaps an even better job in telling the story in all its completeness."

Click through to learn more about these journalists and their work. We hope that you find their reporting as empowering as we have.