She also spoke to NPF Women in Politics fellows in April 2024: Trailblazing Women Journalists Urge Equity in Politics and Journalism.
Sonya Ross is the editor-in-chief of Black Women Unmuted, a media start-up that reports untold and under-told stories about Black women in the U.S. Sonya launched BWU in 2019 after a 33-year career at The Associated Press took her on assignment to 48 countries and all 50 states. She became The AP’s first Black woman White House reporter in 1995 and, in 1999, the first Black woman elected to the board of the White House Correspondents Association.
Sonya was the print pool reporter aboard Air Force One with President George W. Bush as he was evacuated during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, also a historic first. In 2018, Sonya was inducted into the Society of Professional Journalists Hall of Fame. She was the founding chair of the political reporting task force for the National Association of Black Journalists, serving from 2010-2019. She currently serves on the boards of the Journalism & Women’s Symposium, the Washington Press Club Foundation, the SPJ Foundation and the National Newspaper Publishers Association Fund, and is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
