ONA award to Lo Bénichou for journalists of color advocacy
By: Dan McSwain
Journalists and storytellers bring data stories to life, and we’re proud to support these communities not simply with tools but with advocacy.
The ONA Online Journalism Community Award honors badass contributors to the space of online journalism. We’re thrilled that Lo Bénichou, a journalism activist and Brand Partnerships Lead at Mapbox is among those recognized with the ONA Award for their efforts creating “tools or work environments that enable digital journalists to do their best work.”
Anyone who collaborates with Lo knows the title applies. Lo is one of a group of advocates, which includes Julia B. Chan, Tauhid Chappell, Erik Reyna, Lam Thuy Vo, Sisi Wei, and Aaron Williams, working pro bono as Slack administrators in the “Journalists of Color” Slack community. Lo joined as admin of the group four years ago when it had fewer than a dozen members. It has now grown to well over 1,200 people. The description from ONA is succinct and appropriate:
As volunteers, this group has helped to create a community that puts journalists of color in the same “room,” forming a support network that travels with them throughout their careers. JOC Slack allows journalists of color to engage in meaningful conversations on a variety of topics and projects, and the community is expanding beyond its online space to in-person meet-ups and connections.
Lo supports projects and reporting from journalists at the Washington Post, the New York Times, ProPublica, and many more. Their work has been featured in Mother Jones, Buzzfeed, and Netflix’s “Patriot Act with Hassan Minhaj,” which just won a 2019 Creative Arts Emmy Awards for Outstanding Motion Design, which includes Lo’s data and imagery work on Amazon deforestation.
Congratulations to all the recipients. If you’re a journalist, storyteller, or creator that wants to work with Mapbox to tell your story, let us know. If you’re around NYC and want to meet Lo and others moving this work forward, RSVP for the Mapbox NYC Meet Up Happy Hour.
