Our Mission & Vision
Lede New Orleans is a community media hub transforming how journalism serves the people of our city. We do that by training emerging Black and Brown storytellers, amplifying stories that respond to local needs, and fostering trusted spaces for civic discussion.
We envision a future where we’ve unlocked the potential of beaucoup creative minds and storytellers to eliminate information inequity and build stronger, civically engaged communities.
Our Values
Lede New Orleans is challenging the local narrative by re-imagining who gets to tell stories with and for New Orleans.
We work in solidarity with each other. We are honest about inequity and how it shapes our world, uplifting an approach to media that is led and informed by the people most impacted by historical and present inequities, including Black, Indigenous, People of Color and queer communities. We value reflection and we celebrate each other’s differences.
We believe in young people. We value the expertise young citizens bring to the table and show them respect by connecting them with high-quality training and work opportunities, and turning creative passions into lifelong skills and careers. We believe all people have the potential to drive change in their community with access to the right tools, resources and support.
We move at the speed of trust. We work to inspire trust in our community by making journalism that is accurate, truthful and independent. We are intentional about naming and holding space for what we do not know, valuing the process as much as the product.
We are deeply rooted in people and place. Community voice is the foundation of our storytelling and we strive to experiment with ways to make information and stories more accessible to the New Orleanians who they are about.
Our Story
Co-founders Jennifer Larino, a local journalist, and E’jaaz Mason, a local filmmaker, started Lede New Orleans five years ago because they saw a gap in local journalism and an opportunity to fill it with something radically different. Most newsrooms and media spaces in New Orleans were white-dominated. Too often, local reporting failed to reflect the realities of the communities most impacted by the issues they covered. The voices of New Orleanians were missing — and so was the trust.
Lede New Orleans was built to change that. Our work is powered by the community, driven by those who live here, and in service of the people of New Orleans. We train local emerging Black and Brown storytellers to report with integrity and curiosity, and, just as importantly, to center the voices of those whose stories have too often been ignored, overlooked or misrepresented.
