Leading with Care; Model D’s Newest Managing Editor, Kyla L. Wright, on legacy, community, and stewarding Detroit’s stories forward

As I neared completion of the eighth grade well over a decade ago, I sat at my family’s computer building my schedule for my freshman year at one of Detroit’s Renaissance High School. As I scanned the list of electives, one course stopped me: journalism. Unsure of what it entailed, I asked my older brother, Kyle, what journalism was. “It’s writing for the school paper,” he said. I loved to write, so I selected it.

What I didn’t know then was how profoundly that single decision would shape my life. Long before I could define journalism, it had already defined me. Mornings spent reading the Detroit Free Press and evenings watching Diana and Glenda Lewis deliver the news on WXYZ with my grandmother, Ninotchka Jackson. Journalism was always present; I just didn’t yet have the language to name it.

Growing up in Detroit, I witnessed firsthand how narratives about cities – and the people who inhabit them – can be incomplete, distorted, or disconnected from lived reality. As a ninth-grade student, I discovered how I could be a part of the change I wanted to see. To some, Ms. Craighead’s journalism class was simply that – a class. To me, it was a vehicle. A way to challenge stereotypes, preserve community voices, and document the brilliance that exists within Black communities like my own.

That awareness later propelled me thousands of miles away to earn my first two journalism degrees at Hampton University and Syracuse University, where I sharpened my reporting, editing, and storytelling skills. Yet it was the journalistic foundation laid at home, and my desire to tell fuller, more honest stories, that ultimately brought me back to Detroit.

Today, I am a Ph.D. student at Michigan State University, studying Media and Information, while remaining deeply committed to journalism as both practice and public service. I have led my own grassroots publication, Socially Driven, centering social entrepreneurs and community-based businesses in marginalized communities across the country. I have also had the privilege of serving as a Neighborhoods Reporter at the Detroit Free Press, where I was part of the team that launched Detroit Is – a vertical dedicated to telling Detroit’s stories, by Detroiters.

The work that I’ve done – rooted in community, equity, and solutions – made transitioning into this role as Managing Editor of Model D feel not just exciting, but natural.

I come to Model D with a unique sense of gratitude, having also been a contributor to this publication. To the young journalists reading this: keep telling stories about our city. Keep pitching. Keep reporting with care. You never know who’s reading your next story about a new youth center in SW Detroit, how Detroiters show love to the city through Instagram, or how youth on Detroit’s East Side are becoming entrepreneurs – and you never know how full circle this work may become. It might land you exactly where you need to be, when you need to be there.

As I step into this role during Black History Month – its 100th anniversary – to lead a publication in one of the Blackest cities in the country, at a moment that invites both reflection and forward movement, it nearly gives me chills. Detroit’s history is inseparable from Black life, Black imagination, and Black resilience, and Model D has long played a role in documenting that truth. I also recognize the significance of this moment as the first Black woman to serve as Managing Editor of Model D. In a city where Black culture and innovation shape every layer of life, representation in media leadership is not only symbolic: it is essential. I am honored to steward this publication forward with that responsibility in mind.

I would also be remiss not to acknowledge the editorial leaders whose work has helped shape the landscape I now enter. I am grateful to stand alongside and on the shoulders of journalists like Nicole Avery Nichols, Editor-in-Chief of the Detroit Free Press and a fellow Syracuse alumna, and Dr. Erin Perry, Editor-in-Chief of Outlier Media and a fellow Hampton University alumna. I admire their leadership deeply, and their work continues to model what thoughtful, community-centered journalism can and should be in Detroit.

To the leadership at Issue Media Group and Model D: thank you for entrusting me with your oldest publication. I recognize the responsibility that comes with stewarding a platform that has been a vital voice in Detroit since 2005, and I step into this role with humility, care, and conviction. To former editors, Aaron Foley, Kate Roff and Biba Adams – Aaron, I look forward to continuing the path you paved for me; Kate, you set me up for success in this position long ago, and I’m grateful to finally follow in your footsteps; Biba – thank you for setting the tone and blazing the editorial trail. 

Finally, to the city I was born and bred in — know that both my personal and professional vision and the mission remains the same — telling Detroit’s stories. I am honored to assist in shaping how those stories are told. Thank you for supporting local journalism and for trusting us with your neighborhoods, your work, and your lived experiences. We are listening. And if there is a story you believe needs to be told, know that our newsroom is open and eager to hear from you.

Detroit has always been a city of storytellers, and I’m excited to see what we’ll build: together.

Kyla L. Wright

Managing Editor, Model D