New top story from Time: Janell Ross Joins TIME as Senior Correspondent

Deputy Editor Sam Jacobs sent the following announcement to staff Monday.

Team TIME,

We are thrilled to announce that Janell Ross is joining TIME as Senior Correspondent, covering race and identities. She will write and report across platforms and contribute to TIME 100 Talks.

Janell joins us from NBC News Digital, where she covered race and politics and made frequent appearances on the television properties of NBC, where she will remain a Contributor. In recent months she’s reported on the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd, unrest in Kenosha, Wis., Kamala Harris’ selection as Joe Biden’s running mate, the vote count in Georgia and the role of Black voters in the 2020 election. She was also part of the team preparing for the final presidential debate, hosted by NBC. In 2019, Janell won a Front Page Award for business reporting from the Newswomen’s Club of New York.

Janell has been writing about how race and identity shape American life for nearly two decades. She has reported from across the U.S. as she’s explored issues of social justice, equity, and intolerance. Prior to joining NBC, Janell was a national reporter covering race and demographic change at The Washington Post, where she also reported for The Fix, home to some of the paper’s most read political analysis.

While an immigration reporter at The Tennessean, Janell was part of a team that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News Reporting. At The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., Janell was a member of the City Hall team, responsible for covering issues and people in an area first settled in the 1800s by formerly enslaved Black Americans. Janell began her career as a county government and politics reporter at the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.

A Texas native, Janell is a graduate of Vassar College and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Janell lives in New York where, even before the pandemic, she spent some of her free time reading, painting and trying to produce the perfect biscuit. Her jambalaya is already there.

Janell will start on January 19, reporting to Senior Editor Tina Susman and joining her team of Nation reporters. Please join me in welcoming Janell to TIME in the new year.

Sam