The Voices
Their Voices Can and Will Change the World
The interviewees
In this project, there were 20 interviewees. Only 6 are highlighted in this section. The reason why these women were chosen for audio stories is because they were an accurate sample representation of how the majority of the women responded. Half of the interviews took place on Zoom and the other half over the phone.
Hear their stories below:
Jemima Felix
Jemima Felix is Haitian American from Boynton Beach, Florida. Recently, she graduated from Bethesda College of Health Sciences in pursuit of becoming a registered nurse. She believes the news is crucial to society, and was excited about the opportunity to share her thoughts.
Age Range: 18-24
Main source of information: Social Media
Television outlet mostly consumed: CNN
Dwan Ross
Dwan Ross, a principal at Everglades Elementary School in south Florida loves watching her local news. She believes the news should report facts and use their platform for the better. Her favorite reporter is Don Lemon from CNN.
Age Range: 36-49
Main source of information: Social Media
Television outlet mostly consumed: CNN
Alaias Bertrand
Cleveland, Ohio, native, Alaias Bertrand graduated with a degree in business from Michigan State University in 2021. She is now the brand marketer for EA Sports, including college football and Madden, an American football video game. Bertrand believes the representation of Black women goes far beyond the color of one’s skin. She expressed the importance of not generalizing Black women and emphasized how overlooked Black women are today by legacy media.
Age Range: 18-24
Main source of information: Email notifications and Podcasts
Television outlet mostly consumed: CNN, FOX and ABC
More interviewees
Hear their stories below:
Shanteisha Pruitt
Shanteisha Pruitt is a Division 1 athletic trainer at Michigan State University. Pruitt primarily consumes her news via Facebook and Instagram and stays in the Twitter loop through tweets from her sister. However, if it is a huge news story, she goes straight to television news. For example, the local, state and national elections. Pruitt has a close friend who is a Black woman news anchor and said that her friend was asked to change her appearance by her news station to be deemed “socially acceptable.”
Age Range: 36-49
Main source of information: Social Media
Television outlet mostly consumed: CNN and sometimes ABC
Keshava Kirkland
Keshava Kirkland is a highly educated East Lansing resident. She graduated from Michigan State University with her bachelors and attended law school at the University of Detroit Mercy. She is currently a criminal defense attorney who believes television news is important but can sometimes be depressing.
Age Range: 25-35
Main source of information: Social Media
Television outlet mostly consumed: CNN and NBC
Darian Burns
A University of Michigan alum, Darian Burns graduated with her master’s degree in education policy. Burns primarily consumes her news via social media because of its convenience. She is a Georgia native and believes the news has an important responsibility to withhold when telling the truth about people and events.
Age Range: 18-24
Main source of information: Social Media
Television outlet mostly consumed: CNN and FOX
Excerpts from the interviewees listed above:
