Georgia Fort started her media career without imagining it would ever take the direction it did. She is now an Emmy award-winning producer and an independent journalist.
Fort’s journey was not without hardships, but she has come a long way from growing up on St. Paul’s East Side.
She began her career at St. Thomas University, where she worked at the college radio station KUST Radio. She was disappointed with the local options available for Black youth and wanted to create a station that served them. This fascination led her to KMOJ, where she interned for almost a year. After that, she became a part-time co-host, where she fell in love with facilitating community conversations and amplifying the voices of individuals who often aren’t heard.
As she settled into her role, Fort realized the steep costs of operating a radio station, making her dream of owning a station seem out of reach. This was incredibly challenging for her as a single mother.
Georgia sets out for the Peach State
After some time at KMOJ, Fort found an opportunity out-of-state that she believed would give her a step up in her career. She began working full-time at a radio station in Columbus, GA, and quickly took on more opportunities.
“I’m doing everything trying to get to the next level. It’s like the gerbil in the wheel. I’m running, running, running, going nowhere,” she recalled.
Once her radio contract was up, Fort knew she had to make a change. Her lease was up around the same time, pushing her to make a decision.
“I had no idea what I was going to do next. I had no job lined up. I had no place to live, so it was a total faith walk,” she said.
Frustrated, Fort revamped her resume, put together a reel of her work, and sent it to all the nearby stations one morning. She informed them that she would be in the market for two more weeks and would leave if she didn’t find an opportunity.
By the end of the day, she had two offers.
“That transition was rocky privately, but publicly, it probably seemed seamless,” she said.
She took it as a lesson from God to remain humble as she finally gained traction.
Breaking into broadcast journalism
Although Fort had studied business in college, she quickly learned the ins and outs of her role as a reporter.
“I quickly realized that the job of reporting was less about the vanity of the 5 o’clock news and more about the moments I was having with people, sometimes like the worst day of their life,” she said.
The new role came with more responsibilities, which would take away time from her daughter. As a reporter, Fort had a 9 to 5 schedule through the weekdays, which worked well since her daughter was in school then. Her new weekend and evening schedule would be difficult to balance as a mother.
Return to the North
With her unresolvable scheduling conflicts, Fort returned to Minnesota, where she received a job offer in Duluth, MN. The opportunity gave her a better schedule and a better position overall.
Things were going well in her personal life too. Fort had gotten engaged to her now-husband,
not long after they found out they were expecting. Fort had been in her role for just shy of a year before she gave birth, disqualifying her from maternity leave guaranteed in the Federal Medical Leave Act.
While disappointed, she saw the silver lining in the situation. She hadn’t planned to be in Duluth long, and there were several reporter jobs open in the Twin Cities at the time, which was rare.
The following two years proved difficult for Fort as someone who had been career and purpose-driven; she couldn’t find the opportunity to do what she loved.
Being called to the frontlines
It wasn’t until 2020 that Fort felt called to her purpose once again.
With the murder of George Floyd sparking civil unrest and global outcry, Fort knew that she had to report to her community what was happening in real time.
“I don’t need anybody to give me permission to do what I’ve been called to do,” she said.
Fort had accumulated over 6,000 followers on Facebook over the years and knew they’d go with her along the ride.
During her time in Georgia, Fort covered the court system, a strength that she utilized when the trial of Derek Chauvin, for the murder of Floyd, was in full swing. She worked her way into being one of only two journalists in the courtroom when Chauvin was sentenced.
Fort continued her independent reporting into the trial of former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter after she fatally shot Daunte Wright in 2021 while Chauvin was on trial.
Her streams of Chauvin and Potter’s trials reached over 18 million views.
Launching an independent business
Under the umbrella of BLCK Press, a company Fort founded in 2020, she created a new series titled “Building Black Wealth” in partnership with U.S. Bank. This new venture allowed her to expand her storytelling and dig deeper into the lives of community members whose accomplishments she hoped to highlight.
In the spring of 2023, Fort introduced “Here’s the Truth,” her weekly news program on the CW.
They had their weekly time slot on Saturday mornings at 11 a.m. and told the stories they believed would have an impact on the community.
Out of the gate, “Here’s the Truth” received six regional Emmy nominations and won two after its first season. It was a full circle moment for Fort to receive recognition in a room full of people who, in her view, had written her off.
“When I think about the different obstacles I’ve had to overcome and how I’ve just continued to move forward despite how things have continuously worked out for me,” she said, “there’s no way I could have seen it playing out this way.”
Helping create opportunities for the next generation
Fort partnered with Marriane Combs in 2022 to create the Center for Broadcast Journalism (CBJ) to help foster the next generation of journalists and media personalities. They acquired the license of WEQY-FM from Dayton’s Bluff Community Council and relaunched power 104.7 FM.
Fort knows that she can’t force things to change overnight at these local outlets but hopes that with a sustained approach, things could look different over time.
“If we do this for 10, 20 years, I think we could really see a shift in terms of the diversity within our local newsrooms. That is really like our mission. To transform [the] media to reflect the communities we serve,” she said.
Season three of “Here’s the Truth” with Georgia Fort is in production. In the meantime, Fort seeks more sponsors and partnerships and aims to expand it year-round.
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