Nicole Avery Nichols —a journalist, storyteller, and media manager proficient in coalition building — is the Editor-in-Chief of Chalkbeat. Nicole started her career as a weekend reporter at the Observer-Dispatch in upstate New York more than two decades ago. As a reporter for various newspapers and magazines, Nicole has covered everything from immigrant resettlement to the Million Man March to the desperate search for lost loved ones after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. While rising through the editing ranks at the Detroit Free Press in the 2000s, she coordinated coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, the #MeToo movement, the opioid crisis, and much more. Nicole’s favorite journalism centers people, and her work continuously amplifies the voices of those who have historically been forced to whisper. A native New Yorker, Nicole completed her undergraduate studies at Tuskegee University and earned her master’s degree from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.