Guardian US has appointed Lauren N. Williams as its new deputy editor for race and equity. Williams will lead editorial coverage on race, identity, and inequality across all teams and desks in the Guardian US newsroom. She starts on May 30.
Williams’ journalism career spans more than a decade, during which she’s produced award-winning features and stories on culture, politics, and race.
Williams joins Guardian US following a five-year tenure at The Atlantic, most recently as a senior editor where she launched a vertical dedicated to the complexity of American identity, and commissioned idea-driven pieces on religion, subcultures, the arts, sports, and socio-political movements.
Prior to The Atlantic, Williams was a fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, and before that was the features editor for Essence, covering topics including reproductive rights, gun violence, education, public health, and social justice. Williams has also worked at More and Marie Claire, writing across their culture, news, and lifestyle sections.
US Editor Betsy Reed said:
“Lauren is a deeply thoughtful and imaginative editor with an impressive track record of producing journalism that helps enhance understanding of America and the world. Reporting on race and racial inequity is core to the Guardian’s mission-driven journalism, and intersects with nearly every other area of our coverage. Lauren’s proven ability to create meaningful journalism that connects with diverse audiences will be invaluable for this role, which will be pivotal as we seek to deepen our impact in the US.”
Lauren N. Williams said:
“I’m thrilled to be joining the Guardian, helping to strengthen our coverage of communities across the US, and to bring in new audiences. I look forward to developing ambitious storytelling projects that widen perspectives on racial systems and dynamics, and to working with so many talented teams to elevate the Guardian’s essential journalism.”
Guardian US has 85 members of its editorial staff across its bureaus in New York, Washington DC, and Los Angeles. In 2022, Guardian US averaged 40 million unique visitors per month. The publication currently has over 215,000 recurring supporters and digital subscribers in the US.
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For more information please contact: media.enquiries@theguardian.com
About Guardian News & Media
Guardian Media Group (GMG), is the publisher of theguardian.com, one of the largest English-speaking news websites in the world. Since launching its US and Australian digital editions in 2011 and 2013, respectively, traffic from outside of the UK now represents around two-thirds of the Guardian’s total digital audience.
Guardian US is renowned for its Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation into widespread secret surveillance by the National Security Agency, and for other award-winning work, including The Paradise Papers. Guardian US has bureaus in New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, covering the climate crisis, politics, race and immigration, gender, and more.
