Category: Speakers

Donna L. Harris brings 24 years of communications and public affairs experience to the District of Columbia’s Department of General Services (DGS).  As the agency’s Public Information Officer, she serves as the point of contact for media representatives regarding the work of the agency and its people. In this capacity, Ms. Harris provides strategic communications by ensuring key information about the nature and impact of DGS activities is accessible, reliable, and delivered through multiple channels to agency constituents. She works with agency senior leadership to develop strategies and protocols to support specific internal and external communications goals. Donna developed the agency’s crisis communications plan and serves as the agency representative when the District’s Joint Information Center is activated for major citywide events and incidents.

Prior to joining DGS in 2017, Ms. Harris served on the ABC7 News (WJLA) news team in Washington, D.C. from 2012 to 2016 where she provided daily logistics and field production in a fast-paced news environment. She is the recipient of three National Capital Chesapeake Bay Regional Emmy Awards and an Edward R. Murrow Award – all focused on team coverage – while at WJLA. From 2008 to 2010 she was a news director at WVVI (93.5FM) in the U.S. Virgin Islands and reported live from Capitol Hill on the inauguration of President Barack Obama. From 1998 to 2010 she worked at ABC13 News (WSET) in Lynchburg, Virginia where she was a news anchor, reporter, and producer. Before her second career in news and public affairs, Ms. Harris served 12 years in the Executive Office at the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO).

Donna is a native Washingtonian, was educated at the University of the District of Columbia in Journalism and was recruited by WUSA9 to begin her career in television news. She is active with the Public Relations Society of America and in her spare time enjoys mentoring others and exuberant runs with her Weimaraner.

Doni Holloway is an award-winning multimedia journalist with an affinity for telling meaningful and impactful stories.  His interest in journalism began when he was six. At that age, he fell in love with and realized the power of words. He’s a speaker, producer and frequent host.

The Laurinburg, NC native has won over 25 national, state and local awards for his journalistic and leadership endeavors. He has been featured in U.S. News & World Report, Electronic Urban Report, Talking Biz News, the National Association of Black Journalists Journal and numerous other publications.

He has served as an ambassador for the Disney Dreamers Academy with Steve Harvey & ESSENCE Magazine (DDA), returning to the program as an alumnus and guest speaker, entertainment host and mentor. He’s also an alumni board member of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) JCamp.

Holloway has reported around the country, studied media markets on the ground in China, and has spoken at a myriad of venues, including the National Press Club, where he auditioned and was selected to introduce NBC TODAY show anchor Hoda Kotb, WJMC’s keynote speaker in 2014. He’s a frequent moderator of events and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a degree in broadcast journalism, where he was named as the National Association of Black Journalists Student Journalist of the Year. Holloway is now producer of NBC/MSNBC’s #1 original “Why Is This Happening?” podcast with Chris Hayes. He previously worked at Bloomberg News in NYC, where he created content for television, radio, podcasts and grew the Bloomberg Businessweek podcast to be the company’s highest grossing one.

Before working at Bloomberg, he was an Emma Bowen fellow in the NBC Washington network newsroom from 2015-2017.

Kevin Douglas Grant is The GroundTruth Project’s Co-founder and Chief Content Officer, as well as Vice President, Strategic Initiatives of Report for America and Report for the World.

Previously Senior Editor of Special Reports at GlobalPost, he has led reporting projects around the world and his work has been recognized by the Edward R. Murrow, Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University and Online Journalism Awards among others.  Over the last 10 years, he has helped to support more than 300 reporting fellows producing in-depth work on social justice issues in more than 50 countries.

Grant is a recent graduate of the Media Transformation Challenge at Poynter, and is presently working on a project about religious leaders worldwide as a journalism fellow at USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture.

He holds an M.A. in Digital Journalism from the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School, where he was a Dean’s Scholar and the founding Executive Editor of Annenberg’s pioneering news organization Neon Tommy. Grant is also the former Operations Director of semantic news aggregator Inform.com.

Grant is currently based in Washington, D.C., where he serves as a capstone adviser and adjunct professor of journalism at Georgetown University.

Anna Rose Layden is a freelance photojournalist in Washington, D.C. She is a regular contributor to The New York Times, Reuters, Getty Images and  Bloomberg News. Primarily covering U.S. politics, Anna has spent the first year of her professional career documenting the House, Senate, Supreme Court, and White House. After graduating from RIT in December 2021, she began her career in Washington as the photography intern at The Hill in February 2022. She has a strong interest in documenting elected officials, and the everyday Americans affected by their policy. Outside of the big white buildings, she finds herself working on stories surrounding immigration, the empowerment of women, religion and family.

Jenna Cohen graduated in May from the Philip Merrill College of Journalism and is the first undergraduate to be named a Roy W. Howard investigative fellow.  She attended WJMC as a National Youth Correspondent in 2017 (go ThinkPink!) and returned as a marketing intern in 2018. Specializing in web design, data, and graphics, she has since contributed to the award-winning investigations completed by The Howard Center for Investigative Journalism.

In the summer of 2020, during the height of the pandemic, she worked on website production and motion graphics for Nowhere To Go, an investigation highlighting the criminalization of homelessness, the lack of enforcement of states’ eviction moratoriums and how public housing evictions leave people on the street. Most recently, she designed and developed the website for Printing Hate – a six-month investigation into how white-owned newspapers historically incited racial terror during the Jim Crow era. She also produced a mini-documentary on the racial massacre in Elaine, Arkansas, outlining how white-owned newspapers fueled one of the largest massacres of Black people in U.S. history.

She has also worked as a designer for Capital News Service at the University of Maryland, Investigative Editing Corps and the LEAD1 Association. She will join the PBS NewsHour in July.

After attending WJMC in the summer of 2017, Collin Cope gained a newfound appreciation for the art of journalism and media production. Meeting many new friends, and even a few future colleagues, Collin’s time with WJMC encouraged him to attend George Mason for his Bachelor of Arts in Communication. With experience writing and editing for George Mason’s student-run newspaper, as well as freelancing for local outlet The Fairfax County Times, Collin emphasizes the importance of varied experience and a general sense of curiosity when reporting.

Rebecca Boggs Roberts is an award-winning educator, author, and speaker, whose books include The Suffragist Playbook: Your guide to changing the world; Suffragists in Washington, DC: The 1913 Parade and the Fight for the Vote; and Historic Congressional Cemetery.  The International Literacy Association named The Suffragist Playbook the best young adult non-fiction title for 2021.

Through her career, Rebecca has served many roles, including a journalist, producer, tour guide, forensic anthropologist, event planner, political consultant, jazz singer, and radio talk show host. Currently she is the curator of programming at Planet Word, a new museum that celebrates the joy and wonder of words and language.

Rebecca received her BA in Politics from Princeton University and her MA in Anthropology from George Washington University. An active volunteer in her native Washington, Rebecca serves of the board of the National Archives Foundation, on the Women’s Leadership Committee of the Trust for the National Mall, and on the Editorial Advisory Committee of the White House Historical Association.

She lives in Washington, DC, with her husband, three sons, and a long-eared hound dog. Rebecca’s next book is a biography of Edith Wilson, published by Viking in 2023.

Andrias White Murdaugh, MBA, CMP, CSEP, CVP has dedicated her career to excellence in event management and digital production strategy for high-profile organizations.  In 2020, she was named vice president of strategic events for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) where she is responsible for building CBCF’s reputation for high performance and results through executional excellence, stakeholder engagement, and high caliber strategic events and televised productions. Her previous roles include director of logistics for George Mason University’s Office of Admissions, senior event manager for Events DC at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, senior facility and sales manager for the former Bon Secours Washington Redskins Training Center, and CEO of Andrias Events, LLC. She’s also stepped from behind the curtain to serve as guest co-host for WTVR CBS 6’s lifestyle and entertainment show Virginia This Morning. In addition to receiving the Professional Convention Management Association’s 20 in their Twenties Award and the International Association of Venue Manager’s 30 Under 30 Award, she proudly served on the Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) Exam Item Review Committee, grader for the Certified Special Event Professional (CSEP) Exam, and judge for International Live Event Association’s Professional Achievement in Creative Events Awards and Espirit Awards. Andrias earned a BS in Tourism & Event Management and an MBA from George Mason University where she later served as adjunct faculty and was inducted into the inaugural 40 under 40 Honors. She is the proud wife of fellow Mason alum David W. Murdaugh III, MBA and new mom to David IV.