Ruth Serven Smith, editor of The Alabama Education Lab at AL.com, has been selected to take part in the Online News Association’s 2022 Women’s Leadership Accelerator.
Smith is one of 26 women selected from six countries to participate in the yearlong program designed to advance the leadership and management skills of women who are pushing digital innovation, and to connect them to a career-long community of support, according to a statement from ONA. The 2022 program is tuition-free and funded by the Dow Jones Foundation, with additional support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Inasmuch Foundation, the Tiffany Shackelford Foundation and Otter.ai.
“The 26 leaders selected for the 2022 cohort represent six countries and serve audiences from Birmingham, Alabama, to Johannesburg, South Africa,” according to ONA. “The majority of this inspiring group identify as women of color, and they bring to the cohort a range of journalism backgrounds. We are thrilled to welcome editors, managers, producers, founders, directors, and journalists with expertise in local news, product, operations, partnerships, audience, digital strategy, AI, immersive storytelling, and visual and audio production.”
Smith grew up in Oklahoma, attended the University of Missouri. She worked as an education and health reporter and editor in Charlottesville, Virginia before joining AL.com in 2020.
At AL.com, Smith has led the development and operation of the website’s Alabama Education Lab, a team of journalists who are developing conversations to help Alabama’s education system be the best for all children by understanding our shared problems, analyzing best practices, highlighting what’s working, hearing from diverse perspectives and digging behind the data to understand trends. The lab operates in partnership with Report For America. Learn more about the team here and contribute to support its work here.
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