AABJ is governed by a Board of Directors that consists of the elected officers of the association, the chairpersons of the standing committees (appointed by the president and approved by the elected officers) and one student member (appointed by the president). The current members of board of directors are listed below:
PRESIDENT
Tenisha Abernathy is a lifelong member of NABJ. She is what many consider a "NABJ baby," having grown up in the organization. She joined the Chicago student chapter in the early '90s with former WMAQ anchor Art Norman as her mentor. Tenisha was awarded NABJ scholarships and participated in the student short course. Over the years, Tenisha has donated her time back to the NABJ student project, she has helped on several NABJ projects, she's served on several panels discussions, faithfully attended the yearly conventions and has personally mentored a plethora of NABJ students. Tenisha was previously the VP of Broadcast for AABJ. In this role, Tenisha has strengthened the relationships between AABJ, NAHJ, and AAJA. She has created programs for all of the minorities organizations to come together, network and fellowship. She has created valuable programming for the AABJ membership such as the 'Election 2008' panel, and the newsmaker discussion with Ed Gordon.
Tenisha works as an Executive Producer at CNN. She is responsible for the CNN weekend morning shows 6a - 11a with anchors Betty Nguyen and TJ Holmes. She has also served as executive producer for Rick Sanchez, Tony Harris, Fredricka Whitfield, Carol Lin and several others. In 2008 she served as Executive Producer of the one hour special "Survival Project: One Child at a Time" with Dr. Sanjay Gupta and actress Lucy Liu. Tenisha also serves on the CNN Diversity Council. Prior to joining CNN years 6 years ago, Tenisha worked as a producer at WUSA-TV (Washington, DC), WLWT-TV (Cincinnati, OH), WDSI-TV (Chattanooga, TN) and ABC NewsOne.
Tenisha earned her B.S. in Mass Media Arts from Clark Atlanta University. She earned her Masters of Public Administration with a concentration in non-profit governance from Kennesaw State University. Tenisha is on the board of directors for the Y.W.C.A of Greater Atlanta, she also a member of American Women in Radio & Television, and National Association of Multi-Ethnicity in Communication, L.E.A.D. Atlanta and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
VICE-PRESIDENT OF BROADCAST
Craig Bell is a lifelong member of the National Association of Black Journalists. He absolutely loves NABJ and credits a large part of his success to the mentoring and love that he’s garnered from his ties and connections within the organization.
For more than the past decade Craig has shown his commitment to NABJ in variety of ways. Craig has served as Vice President of Broadcast twice, both in the Birmingham Association of Black Journalist and in the Austin Association of Black Communicators. In those chapters Craig learned valuable lessons about team work, engaging potential members, and how to develop informative, valuable programs for chapter members. Every year Craig makes it a point to volunteer at the student project at the NABJ national convention. Asked why Bell has decided to run for Vice President of AABJ his response is simple “Because it’s once again time to serve.”
He is originally from “The Magic City” of Birmingham, AL where his family still lives. Bell is a graduate of Alabama A&M University (Go Bulldogs!) where he earned his degree in communications while on a football scholarship. He is also a proud member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.
Before joining CNN as a national assignment editor, Craig worked as a reporter all over the country with stops in Houston, Dallas, and Memphis. Craig covered the September 11th attacks as a reporter for BET Nightly News. Before his days at BET he worked at WBAL-TV in Baltimore where he covered the Super Bowl Champion Ravens. He also spent three years in Winston-Salem, NC at WXII covering the Carolina Panthers, Charlotte Hornets, ACC sports, CIAA even pee wee league sports.
Craig now proudly calls Atlanta home. He enjoys volunteering and giving back… especially to students. His goals for AABJ are to increase “active” membership and find ways to train members so they are prepared for the future of journalism. Craig is dedicated, hard working and a joy to be around. Craig never meets a stranger. He’s eager to bring these same characteristics to the AABJ Board of Directors.
VICE-PRESIDENT OF DIGITAL MEDIA
Mario Page was previously a committee chair for AABJ Digital Media and the chapter Webmaster. He has been involved with NABJ since 1994.
Mario is an award-winning Director of Photography and Cameraman with over 15‐years of experience in the broadcast television industry. Currently, he is the founder and co-owner of EP2 Media, Inc., a film and video production company, established in 2006. Prior to that, Mario worked as a Broadcast News Photographer for several local television network affiliates around the country, including Chicago, Atlanta, Charlotte, Birmingham, and Chattanooga.
Mario's work takes him all over the country, as he shoots for several network televison news clients, sports media clients, entertainment clients, and documentaries.
A native of the midwest, Mario was born outside Detroit, and reared in Indianapolis and Chicago. He attended Indiana University and later earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Radio/TV/Film from Clark Atlanta University. He plans to pursue a Masters of Arts degree in the near future. He is also a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.
He and his family are active in church, and recently adopted an infant girl.
VICE-PRESIDENT OF PRINT
Rashida Rawls is a proud "AABJ and NABJ baby" who discovered the national organization through mentors in the Atlanta area. She joined AABJ in 2001 and served as an Atlanta Association of Black Journalists' Student Consortium board member. Rashida is also a former two-time recipient of the AABJ-administered Xerona Clayton Scholarship award. On the national level, she has received the NABJ-affiliated Allison E. Fisher Memorial Scholarship and participated in numerous student projects, which are held during NABJ's annual convention. Rashida is also a founder of the Middle Georgia Association of Black Journalists.
She formerly served AABJ as student liaison, where she's worked to connect students with professionals in the journalism industry. Knowing firsthand how important mentorship can be, Rashida has spoken on numerous panel discussions, held workshops on journalism and editing and is truly dedicated to aiding others. She was even featured in an NABJ Journal article about mentoring. Rashida credits her mentor, David Gibson, with encouraging her to give back as she returned this year to the NABJ student projects as a professional mentor.
Rashida is an award-winning journalist who currently works as a word editor at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She previously worked as a copy editor, columnist and page designer at the Ocala Star-Banner in Florida. Upon graduation with a B.A. in English from Spelman College in 2003, where she graduated summa cum laude and as a Phi Beta Kappa scholar, she was selected as a Freedom Forum Fellow and worked as a copy editor and designer at the Macon Telegraph. Rashida is also an alumna of the New York Times Student Journalism Institute.
Her community involvement is extensive. She serves as director of operations at Polar Entertainment and senior editor/projects manager with The Horne Bros. studio. Rashida is also a proud and active member of Theta Nu Xi Multicultural Sorority, Inc., where she serves as the national director of communications.
SECRETARY
Ronna Charles Branch is a longtime member of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) and the Atlanta Association of Black Journalist (AABJ). Previously, Branch took on a leadership role as communications chair of AABJ, to support the organization in regaining awareness in the Atlanta community. As AABJ Secretary, she plans to take that goal to the next level.
Branch was raised between Orlando, FL and Houston, TX where her family still lives. She is a graduate of Clark Atlanta University; there she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Media Arts, concentrating in public relations.
She has worked in public relations at UPS for the past seven years; there Branch has managed public relations and events, while building a solid reputation with journalists and communicators across the country. She currently manages public relations for The UPS Foundation, supporting programs that direct more than $100 million in philanthropy to charitable organizations worldwide. Before joining UPS, she managed communication, marketing and events for PolyVision and Logility, two local technology firms.
Branch now calls Atlanta home. She is an active member of Cascade United Methodist Church, Atlanta Press Club, the Public Relations Society of America, the Black Public Relations Society of Atlanta and marketing committee of the Center for Family Resources, where she enjoys volunteering and giving back.
As Secretary, Ronna’s goal is to provide solid, helpful and ongoing communications to AABJ members and our publics. Her solid experience is just what AABJ needs to make it happen.
TREASURER
Deborah Simon is the AABJ Treasurer, and previously the AABJ secretary. She is the winner of the chapter’s Volunteer of the Year award for 2007. She has been an active member of AABJ since 2003 and NABJ since 2004.
Deborah has spent the past 25 years working in advertising, marketing, public relations and sales, including several years in cable television and syndicated radio programming.
PARLIAMENTARIAN
Mashaun D. Simon is a breaking news reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
In August 2010, Simon will start his graduate work at Emory University's Candler School of Theology where he plans to obtain a Masters of Divinity. Simon is a recent graduate of Kennesaw State University where he holds a Bachelors of Science in Communication and a minor in Sociology. He also holds an Associate Degree from Georgia Perimeter College in Professional Writing.
Simon is no stranger to AABJ. In 2000 he became a student member of the organization. A year later he became the Professional Development chair of AABJ’s Student Consortium. That next year he was honored at AABJ’s Volunteer of the Year. In 2003 he was elected AABJSC President and held the position for two years.
He has worked as a producer for AABJ’s In Contact, Editor-in-Chief of AABJ’s newsletter, The Byline, and an assistant producer of AABJ’s Pioneer Black Journalist Awards banquet, where he has also won three AABJ awards for his work.
In addition to AABJ, Simon is also considered an NABJ Baby. He has served as an NABJ intern three consecutive summers (2002, 2003, 2004), worked on NABJ’s student publication, The Monitor, is the co-founder of NABJ’s LGBT Task Force, served as NABJ’s Student Representative (2005-2007), and most recently served as c-chair of NABJ’s LGBT Task Force.
In addition, he is one of the original founders and officers of NABJ Young Journalist Task Force, served on the planning committee of two NABJ Region III (formerly region IV) conferences and is currently co-chair of the planning committee for the NABJ Region III conference tentatively set for April 2010 in Charlotte, NC.
Simon has also freelanced for Black Enterprise magazine, BlackEnterprise.com, the Magazine Publisher’s of America, Written Magazine and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He also serves as a PR consultant for the Voices of Atlanta and Young Voices of Atlanta.