Jennifer Larino

Executive Director Co-founder @Lede New Orleans

New Orleans, LA, US

Five years ago, E\'jaaz Mason and I founded Lede New Orleans because we saw a gap in local journalism—and an opportunity to fill it with something radically different. Newsrooms in New Orleans were overwhelmingly white and male, and their reporting often failed to reflect the realities of the communities most impacted by the issues they covered. The voices of New Orleanians were missing—and so was the trust.Lede was built to change that. Our work is powered by the community, driven by those who live here, and in service of the people of New Orleans. We train local emerging Black and Brown storytellers to report with integrity and curiosity, and to center the voices too often ignored, overlooked, or misrepresented.Since 2020, we’ve- Trained 45 emerging storytellers through our paid fellowship program- Published 175 pieces of original journalism that shift which stories are told and who gets to tell them- Hosted 34 events and workshops connecting 372 community members to trusted spaces to learn media skills, share their stories, and engage in civic discussion.Today, Lede’s work extends beyond training—we are building a community media hub delivering solutions-oriented stories that shift power to Black and Latinx voices and give us reasons to believe in New Orleans and its future.

University of Central Florida

B.A., Journalism