NABJLA Elections 2025
Board Candidates
Vice President
Archie Jay (He/Him)
Host & Integrated Marketing Manager
Chapter Member Since 2023 - Current NABJLA Board Member
Vision Statement
As Vice President, I will build upon the strong foundation already established by our president by supporting the chapter’s existing vision while bringing fresh energy and focus to member engagement. My priorities include streamlining our media presence to amplify the incredible work of NABJLA, expanding opportunities for storytelling that reflect the diversity of our membership, and strengthening connections between members and the broader media community. Above all, I am committed to collaboration, consistency, and creating spaces where our chapter continues to thrive as both a professional resource and a cultural force.
Secretary
Nadia Stanley (She/Her)
Financial Advisor
Chapter Member Since 2023 - Current NABJLA Board Member
Vision Statement
As Secretary of NABJLA, my vision is to strengthen our foundation while building sustainable opportunities for our members. During my term on the board, I launched the Strategic Partners & Alliance Committee to create employment pipelines, foster collaborations with leading organizations, and secure spaces and resources for our community. If elected, I am committed to ensuring this committee becomes a lasting pillar of NABJLA—so its impact and opportunities extend beyond a single term and continue to benefit members for years to come. In addition, I will fulfill the core responsibilities of Secretary by keeping accurate minutes of board meetings, maintaining records, and ensuring clear and timely communication to support the work of the entire board.
General Board Member
Niena Drake (She/Her)
Emmy Award-winning Executive Producer, Career Coach + Strategist, and Philanthropist + Impact Leader
Chapter Member Since 2024
Vision Statement
My priorities are to expand reach, enhance professional development, and develop new partnerships. I am excited to work with the NABJLA leadership and community to support current initiatives and create new initiatives. Looking forward to sharing my experience to help build strategic partnerships that support long-term growth and stability. Additionally, helping create programming and workshops to equip members with skills for their current excellence and future growth. I will continue to be a passionate ambassador for the NABJLA, amplifying its voice and fostering a supportive community for all members.
Jade Fox (She/Her)
Creative Strategist + Host
Chapter Member Since 2024
Vision Statement
As a board member, my vision is to help media professionals utilize social media in an optimized way so their ideas, work, and advocacy has the best chance to reach the right people. I hope to teach, share resources and insights, and create opportunities for creatives to learn how to market themselves better.
Martine Thompson (She/Her)
Freelance Journalist
Chapter Member Since 2022
Vision Statement
As a board member, my vision is to help build a chapter that prioritizes the holistic well-being of Black journalists—mentally, professionally, and communally. I want to work alongside fellow members to make lasting, positive changes within our chapter and the broader media industry.
During my tenure, I hope to explore and advocate for mental health support and sustainable practices that affirm the realities of being Black in journalism—an industry that often undervalues our labor and voices. I want to center disabled and neurodivergent journalists in our conversations around access and inclusion, while also creating space to explore alternative career paths and income streams that reflect the full spectrum of our skills.
I’m also deeply interested in fostering dialogue around media language and creating space to examine how anti-Blackness shows up in the words and frameworks we’re taught to accept as neutral. For example, I’d like us to critically engage with the media’s use of terms like “dark” or “darkness” as negatives—language that can subtly but powerfully reinforce narratives that are deeply colorist, anti-Black, and rooted in white supremacy. I believe this could be an opportunity for us, as a collective, to push for change—perhaps even organizing efforts to ask publications to commit to no longer using such language pejoratively.
Above all, I want to be in community with my peers—listening, collaborating, and imagining a more supportive, resource-rich, and liberatory future for Black journalists. I believe the work we do together can ripple outward and make a real, lasting impact.
Amir Vera (He/Him)
Breaking News Editor
Chapter Member Since 2023
Vision Statement
I'm extremely passionate about mentoring, giving back to the localities where I reside and I feel it's definitely time to give back to the Los Angeles journalism and media community after living here the last 2.5 years. As a general board member for NABJLA, I hope to connect our student chapters more with the professional chapter and its members through events, speaking engagements or an internship program. I also want to help NABJLA have a larger presence at the NABJ Region IV Conference next spring through interactive programming that speaks to what LA brings to Region IV. All that said, I bring eight years of consecutive leadership having served most recently as the NABJ Vice President of Digital with previous stints as the president of the Atlanta Association of Black Journalists and vice president/PR chair for the NABJ chapter in the Virginia Beach area. So, as you can see, I know what local chapters need and have been a change agent leading chapters into the digital age and through financial malfeasance.