Tag: 2023

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.

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.