Verite is welcoming its second class of newsroom fellows this month as part of its mission to train the next generation of minority journalists.
Recent college graduates Josie Abugov, Lue Boileau and Khalil Gillon will work as full-time reporters and multimedia journalists as part of the one-year fellowship program that includes on-the-job training, mentorship as well as educational and career-building opportunities. The fellows will work side-by-side with a growing staff of veteran reporters as the nonprofit, independent news organization pursues a mission to examine the inequities facing underserved communities in New Orleans and beyond.
“We are excited about this class of fellows joining our newsroom as we continue to build on what we think is a unique opportunity for young journalists to get real-world experience in an incredible city filled with challenges and possibilities,” Verite Executive Director David Francis said.
Verite launched in late July 2022 with one senior reporter and the first class of three fellows. The newsroom now has three veteran reporters with plans to add at least two more in the coming weeks.
“Just a year after launching Verite, it’s incredibly gratifying to see our newsroom staff double in size,” Verite Editor-in-Chief Terry Baquet said. “Adding this group of fellows will allow us to dig even deeper into the issues and stories that need to be told about this great city we live in.”
Verite’s mission is to elevate voices from communities that have been historically dismissed or ignored by creating thoughtful, solution-based coverage on crucial topics such as education, housing, health care, criminal justice, the environment and politics.
Meet the fellows
Josie Abugov is an undergraduate fellow at Harvard Magazine and the former editor-at-large of The Crimson’s weekly magazine, Fifteen Minutes. Abugov has previously interned for the CNN Documentary Unit and “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” and worked for a producer at PBS SoCal. She graduated from Harvard with high honors in her joint concentration, Social Studies and the Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality. She was born and raised in Los Angeles.
Lue Boileau is a climate and multimedia journalist joining Verite after graduating from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Boileau is a native of Toronto, Canada, with roots in Jamaica. Before entering the field of journalism, Boileau was a writer, documentarian and podcaster, covering race, health, and environment.
Khalil Gillon is a New Orleans native from Algiers. He attended Thomas Jefferson High School and is a graduate of Louisiana State University in political journalism. Passionate about politics, Gillon ran a podcast called the “State of Today” that focused on current events and issues.
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