Meet Trevon Cole, a Lede New Orleans Senior Fellow
Trevon Cole will be doing community reporting work in New Orleans as part of the Lede New Orleans fellowship program.
By Jennifer Larino
Trevon Cole remembers wandering through the stacks of books at the local library as a child in Thibodaux, his hometown. It was the first place he could roam freely and learn. The first place he felt empowered. He credits those library visits with fueling his interest in writing and journalism.
“The library was one of the first places I had free will. I could choose whatever I wanted. It was a safe place,” Cole said.
Cole, 25, is an athlete, published author and a contributing writer for The Daily Comet in Thibodaux. He served as a Lede New Orleans reporting fellow in Fall 2020, assisting in the production of the Lede Voices profile series and profiling a local praline maker and an art therapist for a piece on community healing during the pandemic. As a Senior Fellow, Cole wants to dig deeper into multimedia journalism skills, including video and video editing.
What does equitable media mean to you?
Media that actually helps the mind. Media that causes a turnover in people’s mind or causes some kind of conversation that we can have to make a better situation [for everyone] and better places to live…
I do see some positive things [in local media], but I don’t think the positive gets broadcast enough. I’ve been on social media and I’ve seen the same mugshot five times over a course of five months, but I may see one article that is something positive and it’s here today and gone tomorrow… It’s always been like that and that’s unfortunate.
What is your goal for this fellowship?
My goal is to see what comes out of it, what I learn from it. Will it change me? Will I become a different person? This, for me, is life changing. I’m transitioning my life right now and this is helpful for me. I’m going to be doing something I like to do. I feel like I’m working towards something again.
What else should the community know about you?
I was always a sports guy, a competitive guy. I always worked towards something. Now I realize there’s other things you can work towards. I just tore my ACL. I’m not one to complain. I’m still in a good position, but it hasn’t been the easiest.
Jennifer Larino is Co-Founder and Editorial Director of Lede New Orleans. She has worked as a journalist in New Orleans for more than a decade, most recently at NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune.
This article was originally published in September 2020.
