Media 2070: An Invitation to Dream Up Media Reparations

Alicia Bell — A child of ancestors from Mississippi and the Carolinas, Alicia works at the intersections of afrofuturist imagination, journalism, land, food and all the spaces in between. They are the director of the Racial Equity in Journalism Fund at Borealis Philanthropy. Alicia learned community building and changemaking through electoral organizing in North Carolina; parent, student and youth organizing in New York; and housing, health and police-accountability organizing in Oakland. Outside of work, Alicia finds joy in raising their three niblings, laughing with their family, throwing down with their gardening collective, Angelou House, and spending time with big bodies of nature. Alicia is a founder of Media 2070.

Joseph Torres — Joseph advises key Free Press staff in setting and evaluating Free Press and Media 2070 policy positions and priorities. Joseph writes frequently on media and internet issues and is the co-author of the New York Times bestseller News for All the People: The Epic Story of Race and the American Media. He is the 2015 recipient of the Everett C. Parker Award, which recognizes an individual whose work embodies the principles and values of the public interest. Before joining Free Press, Joseph worked as deputy director of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. Born and raised in New York City, Joseph is Puerto Rican. Joseph is a founder of Media 2070.

Collette Watson — Collette is a native of Gullah country, South Carolina, who has worked with Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) and now Free Press to channel the power of creative and cultural arts for Black liberation. Collette’s practice is informed by over a decade as an award-winning indie soul musician and communications strategist. She is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and graduate of Howard University, and her favorite pastimes are nature walks with the hubster, red rice-eating and dancing it out to a fonky beat. Collette is a founder of Media 2070.

Diamond Hardiman — Diamond works with the Media 2070 and News Voices teams to build the dreams, power and local journalism needed to forge a reparative media future. She aims to participate in the creation of a world where freedom is noncontingent — but rather, an inevitable necessity. In service of this vision she has worked as a tenants’ rights advocate and bail abolitionist in St. Louis and as an advocate for people sentenced to execution by the state in Jackson, Mississippi. Diamond earned a B.A. in African American studies and political science from Saint Louis University. In her free time, she enjoys pondering womanist and liberation theology, listening to Megan Thee Stallion and admiring beauty wherever it appears.

Anshantia “Tia” Oso is a specialist in using narrative, messaging, arts and culture to catalyze change. As the senior director for Media 2070, she leads the work to build Black narrative power and advance media reparations as a necessary project for collective liberation. Tia has organized for over 12 years leading successful campaigns to mobilize thousands of advocates on issues ranging from migrant rights to racial justice to public arts policy. Her work is rooted in the legacies of Black organizing and ancestral resistance and inspired by Afrofuturist visions.

Venneikia Williams (she/her) — is a person whose pursuit of justice is informed by the radical Black tradition. Venneikia supports the Free Press team in the development, design and successful implementation of the Media 2070 campaign for media reparations.

From designing curriculum, graphics, and events to facilitating in-person and virtual trainings on racial, political, and spiritual matters, Venneikia is a lifelong learner and instructor.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master of Divinity degree from Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri.