hey y’all:
I am a graduate of Howard University. I studied Media, Journalism and Film Communication, with a concentration in Journalism, in the Cathy Hughes School of Communications, and I minored in Afro-American Studies. I’m from Charlotte, North Carolina.
I’ve been writing a little of everything since I can remember, and I decided on the news because I like to talk to people and I like to know what’s happening in the community. Pursuing journalism has taken me to spaces and introduced me to people my younger self would not have guessed possible. I’m excited to see where else it takes me!
Biography:
Hadiya Presswood, a native of Charlotte, NC, began her journalism career in elementary school where she wrote and helped produce a weekly newspaper for her 4th and 5th grade peers. While the publication was short-lived, it sparked a long-standing desire for Hadiya to observe, write and present news.
Her interests in community activity continuously surfaced throughout her academic and personal endeavors; she took on various writing roles for school newsletters, contests, anthologies and her personal blog. She was involved in Teen Connections (Teens Taking Action) and Generation Nation, and is a current Kwanzaa Charlotte committee member.
As she matured as a writer, Hadiya sought opportunities to develop her skills: she was a Mayor’s Youth Employment Program intern in 2014 and 2015, where she had roles in Diversity and Inclusion and Public Information, respectively; in 2016 she was a Youth Correspondent for the Washington Journalism and Media Conference; and in 2016-17 she was a Youth Explorer with The Charlotte Observer, through which the first article of her career was published.
In 2018, Hadiya began her journey at THE Howard University in the Cathy Hughes School of Communication, from which she graduated in 2021. Her matriculation through the department of Media, Journalism and Film Communication exposed her to a plethora of talented journalists and editors who serve as professors, mentors and guides.
In the spring of 2021 she interned as a reporter for The Charlotte Post, where she would write what would become her first award-winning article. During that summer, she was accepted into the T. Howard Foundation, and accepted an internship with Food Network as an Editorial and Digital Content intern that was extended into the fall semester. Concurrently, she was a part of The Washington Post’s inaugural fall cohort of newsroom interns. In 2022, she began to work with TLC’s digital team, as well as with Tour de Force, an arts-based philanthropic organization.
Hadiya has been exposed to a number of roles within the field of communications, and is excited to see how everything she learned along the way will shape what she does in the future.
a lil’ extra
goals
from Howard’s MJFC program:
To become a well-rounded journalist and expand my capabilities to produce news stories. This is important to me as the field of journalism evolves and adapts to technological and societal advances. This includes:
- writing engaging ledes
- writing objective stories that answer the 5W+H
- incorporating media from a variety of sources to complement and enhance the story
- publishing
To learn how to use pictures, videos, sound clips, and social media to complement my news story. This is especially pertinent given increasing technological advances.
personal mission
To connect communities and engage storytelling as a humanitarian tool.
Experiences
Howard University
2018 – 2021
Media, Journalism, and Film Communication: Journalism Concentration
Minor: Afro-American Studies
T. Howard Foundation Internship Program
Charlotte Observer Explorer’s Post
January – May 2017
Washington Journalism and Media Conference
July 2016
Hadiya A. Presswood 