About Rachel

In 2025, I made a significant transition from nearly two decades in traditional newsrooms to founding and leading News Creator Corps, a nonprofit working at the intersection of news and the creator economy. As executive director, I'm building a movement to ensure everyone has access to accurate and trustworthy information by investing in content creators and community messengers—the people millions now turn to for news and information on social platforms. NCC launched with a clear theory: Instead of telling people not to get their news on TikTok, why not make the news on TikTok better? And if communities could access quality information through creators, what could that mean for news deserts and those underserved by mainstream media?

Through our Trusted Creator Fellowship, training programs, and resources, we're equipping information-focused creators with journalistic skills like sourcing, verification, and public records access—not to turn them into journalists, but to help them become even more reliable and trusted voices in their communities.

This work feels like the natural evolution of everything I've done throughout my career: running toward sticky challenges, seeing opportunities where others see obstacles, and building systems that serve both audience needs and organizational impact. At outlets like USA Today, Fortune, and Vice, I learned that the future of media lies in building meaningful community and meeting people where they already are. 

Now, as people increasingly migrate away from traditional news outlets toward creators whose work feels easier to trust and more relatable, I'm channeling that insight into a new model. By training creators in the fundamentals of accuracy and accountability—and building a national network of trusted information-sharers and creating new information pipelines to safeguard democracy—we're creating a different kind of immune system against misinformation in the information ecosystem. Our goal is to increase access to accurate information, strengthen civic engagement, and make the digital information ecosystem safer for everyone. 

I frequently speak and write on the future of media, the information ecosystem, the creator economy, and leadership. I was a member of the 2023 Online News Association Executive Women Leaders Salon and 2016 ONA-Poynter Leadership Academy for Women in Digital Media class.

I have previously worked as the transformation chief at Gannett, the editorial director at FORTUNE, the managing editor at VICE, a strategist at the Wall Street Journal, and at Fusion, the Sun Sentinel, the Los Angeles Times, and the Huntsville Times.

I block out time on Fridays to mentor women and people of color in journalism. 

I read a lot of books.