We’re excited to announce that we’ve added Alexis Wray to our development team. As community engagement manager, Wray, who started Oct. 6, will help deepen MLK50: Justice Through Journalism’s relationship with the Memphis community through social media, newsletters, events, partnerships and other creative ways.
“I have always seen MLK50 as a revolutionary newsroom, telling stories people need and deserve to read,” said Wray. “I would read articles and see how each sentence was reported with intention, every paragraph written with justice in mind. I knew I wanted to work for a newsroom that deeply cared about its communities.”
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Wray’s background includes reporting, writing and audience engagement. As a reporter, she’s written about a range of topics, including student loan debt and social movements in Appalachia — she’s from a small town in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina. Her work has appeared in Scalawag, The Appalachian Voice, The Atlanta Voice, In These Times, Reckon News and The 19th. She led audience engagement at Reckon News and with affiliates of Planned Parenthood and Black Child Development Institute.
Wray says her vision for furthering MLK50’s community engagement work starts with “cementing our footprint” across social media as a tool, resource and newsroom for Memphians. “After providing digital spaces for our audiences and communities, I plan to put our reporters’ work in the faces of as many Memphians as possible through projects and community events throughout the city,” she said.
Not only does Wray work for a nonprofit, she runs one. For six years, her organization, MarketBoxx, has given out more than 5,000 pounds of food to college students and families across North Carolina, Alabama and Texas.
“For me, sharing food and feeding people are two of my favorite ways to show love, and through my nonprofit, I have the opportunity to meet hundreds of people where they are with a box full of food and love,” she said.
And while she’s learned a lot about being intentional from that work, another passion — caring for her favorite houseplants — teaches other lessons. ”I specifically love ponytail palm trees for their quirky aesthetic and long, slender leaves,” she said. “These plants represent endurance and are a great way to purify the air in your home. Ponytail palm trees are a great reminder that the race we run is more like a marathon than a sprint.”
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