On this episode we're joined by Mikayla Newton. Mikayla is a freelance reporter and anchor in the Baltimore/Washington D.C. area often focusing on news and education stories. She's an adjunct lecturer at the University of Maryland. And she's the president and founder of a non-profit aimed at empowering future journalists, The Mikayla Newton Foundation. She is a graduate from Georgia State with a masters degree from Syracuse.
Mikayla talked about what she learned from working as a weekend morning news anchor, her current project about private schools doing radical things in education in the DMV, and the goals of her foundation (which most recently awarded its first scholarship).
A lightly-edited excerpt of the interview is below.
The Mandala School documentary was a 20-minute one about that school. It was a solutions journalism-oriented piece that showed how this school used mindfulness, meditation, movement, and reflection to engage with its students and kind of set them on the right path mentally. What more should we know about that piece?
When I talk about radical approaches to education, someone asked me recently, what's so radical about it? I think when you take academics out of school, that's so radical about it. So teaching students more about their emotions and how they can be responsible, I think that that's really interesting.
A lot of people that have sent their kids there have said that the public school system has failed their kids … and they want a more inclusive space for their kids.
Every anchor that we've had on at some point in the last five years, I've asked them this question, how long did it take you to find your anchor voice?
I think I'm still trying to find it. I mean, really, I think what helped was actually working with other people and being able to co-anchor with other people that have done it a little bit longer, because you pick up things along the way.
So I would anchor next to people who've done it for years, and they do their own little things, and then I pick up on what they're doing, and I might mimic them just until I find my own voice. DC News Now is when I did find my own voice, so I think maybe three or four years. I think confidence comes into play as well. Once you mimic these people that you're co-anchoring with, then you find your own voice, and then you finally then have the confidence to just be yourself.
You're teaching at the University of Maryland. You taught high school. What do your students get from a class that's taught by Mikayla Newton?
Teaching at the high school level was a little bit different because all of them didn't essentially want to be journalists. They just have to fill the requirement to have an elective. But at the collegiate level, being able to teach students that were so bright-eyed and interested in what you're talking about. If they ever needed me for anything like a letter of recommendation, or if they ever just wanted to connect with me, having that younger person in the industry (that they could go to).
I remember being in school and I had a teacher, She was my English teacher and she was in a graduate program, but she taught the class. She was a lot younger. She was one of my favorite professors just because I was able to relate with her. And hopefully my students were able to get that from me too, just being able to relate and get anything that they needed from me.
One other project that you're deeply involved in is the Mikayla Newton Foundation. You just awarded your first scholarship. What is your foundation?
I founded it in 2021. One of my sorority sisters is in the same field and she ended up giving a scholarship to a student some years ago. And I thought that was so cool. And I just seen people doing a bunch of different organizations or nonprofits. Soledad O'Brien has her own nonprofit.
I wanted something that I can brand myself with a little bit and I can give back. When I was in high school, I remember even though I was really active, I was getting good grades. I found myself struggling to get a lot of scholarships or even getting a lot of acceptances into schools.
So I was like, when I have the chance to give back, I want to be able to do that. In 2021, I founded it when I was in Hagerstown. We did an afterschool program with a few students and taught them introductory parts of journalism. And then I kind of, it was a little bit stagnant for some time, but then at the beginning of 2025, I was able to be fiscally sponsored by the Alternative Weekly Foundation, who helped me with the scholarship. And we were able to raise funds, a $1,000 scholarship for a student.
Kennedy Ben ended up being our first scholar. She goes to school at North Carolina A&T. She's in the journalism industry and she was able to use those funds for whatever she needed. And I was happy to be able to give it to her because she's really deserving.
We're actually working on getting our afterschool program back up and running. I'm working with another organization called Heart of America, who's helping us out a lot. And in the next five years, I would like to give more scholarships. Something that my board has been discussing is, take Kennedy Ben for example, being able to provide her with funds throughout her college for entire college years, instead of just one $1,000 scholarship.
I want to be able to fund her all the way through. So yeah, hopefully one day we'll be able to do that.
When you think about journalism, the institution, and you're in a lot of different parts of it, what do you think of and how do you view your place within journalism as a young Black woman?
The industry is changing a lot when it comes to journalism. When I first got into it or when I first had a love for it, there was a lot of negativity around it. I couldn't be my full self, my full authentic self. You couldn't wear braids on air, or you couldn't sound like yourself.
But I think the industry has changed a lot. I can wear my hair how I want to and not be afraid of a news director coming in and asking me to change it.
And I think just for myself, I think I'm showing other journalists that you don't have to just be one thing. You can do other things. A lot of my colleagues, when I went into teaching at the University of Maryland, asked me, how did I do it? How did I get into it? And at the time, I was thinking about pivoting completely out of journalism.
But I think that opens your mind up to different aspects of the industry. And it was just cool to be able to pivot and still come back to it to show myself hey, you don't have to just stay in a box. You can do a bunch of other things too.
In 2025 we had a new episode each week and featured more than 60 guests. I don’t know that we were the most diverse journalist interviews podcast out there, but we certainly tried to be.
We look forward to bringing you more journalist interviews in 2026 but we can use your help. Tell a friend, a relative, a colleague about us and let them know that our episodes are worth their time.
A reminder to professors and teachers
You can find episode guides that you can use if you wish to integrate the podcast within your classroom. There are more than 50 available. Each one has suggested questions for discussion and activities a class can do.
I’m also happy to help you find an episode that would be appropriate for what you’re teaching. Reach out to me at [email protected].
Additionally, I’ve curated some of the 2025 episodes into groups. If you’re teaching a class or unit in any of these subjects:
- Investigative Journalism
- Feature Writing
- Covering government policy
- Social justice, immigration, and identity
- Local News
Check out the sets of episode guides that would be useful to you. I don’t have a good term for them, so I’m borrowing from Bluesky and calling them “Starter Packs” - sets of 5-8 episodes in each category that may be useful in your classroom.