General assignments reporter
KERA News, Dallas
Age: 23
In three words: “Smart, passionate, motivated”
What colleagues say: Toluwani came to us in 2022 straight out of college and immediately made an impact with her talent, thoughtfulness and overall positive attitude. Her primary responsibility is daily news, but she’s also skilled at features and longer projects.
Her in-depth series on police chases in Texas, “Deadly Pursuits,” reported through a collaboration with the Fort Worth Report, is just one example. What started as a breaking news story — an innocent civilian killed during an unrelated high-speed chase between Fort Worth police and a suspected car thief — turned into a dive into police chase policies and their sometimes fatal consequences. When the city of Dallas issued a secret legal opinion that made police oversight in the city toothless, she got a tip to look into it. The result was a series of reports on a group of officers who were caught on tape mocking a disabled veteran.
What Toluwani says
Decision to work in public media: I interned at Texas Tech Public Media in my last semester of college. I was unsure if a career in journalism was a wise choice in the current media landscape. My early mentors at Tech cultivated such a welcoming, passionate and educational news environment, I learned the power of audio storytelling and the importance of accessible news in a smaller/midsize market. I knew if I was going to be a reporter, it was public radio or bust. I got a job at my home station, KERA, that same year.
Key accomplishments: Being named for a Texas Broadcast News Award in 2023 alongside my colleagues at KERA News and the Fort Worth Report for our coverage of the trial of Aaron Dean, a white Fort Worth police officer convicted of the 2019 murder of Atatiana Jefferson, a Black woman. An individual achievement I’m proudest of is my story on Grissel Velasco, an El Paso mother who believed her doctor had tied her tubes until she unexpectedly became pregnant the next year, after which she sued him and his clinic.
Inspired by: Reading inspires me to approach my writing in new ways. I’m continually inspired by the work of my friends at KERA and across the Texas Newsroom. I’m also inspired by the non-journalists doing the thankless, fearless work in the communities we write about. And hearing feedback from readers and listeners — or even just people who don’t listen to public radio but see value in what we do — that helps me feel like I’m not just shouting into the void, microphone in hand.
Advice for young public media professionals: Be annoyingly persistent in your reporting and in advocating for your work and your boundaries.
Get involved in “extracurriculars” — any fellowship, organization or activity within or outside of the news world that isn’t your day-to-day job. And pursue opportunities that cater to early-career journalists.
Advice for public media leaders: Amplify the best qualities in people, especially the things they don’t see in themselves. Learn how to recognize the signs of burnout. Be as transparent as possible. Commit to having a diverse newsroom in every way. Don’t get stuck doing things the way they’ve always been done.