Congratulations, Damenica Ellis: MSR Celebrates a Staff Writer, On the Radar Host and Howard University Graduate
The Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder celebrates staff writer and On the Radar host Damenica Ellis on her graduation from Howard University with a Bachelor of Arts in Media, Journalism and Film, honoring her contributions to MSR and her commitment to telling the stories others miss for communities of color.
Damenica Ellis always had questions, and she always needed to share what she found out. Her mother’s favorite memory of her is a girl who would learn something new and immediately turn to whoever was nearby and ask: “Did you know?”
That curiosity found its form in her junior year of high school, when a teacher connected her with a TPT program that introduced BIPOC students to media literacy and storytelling. There, Ellis discovered journalism. A field that matched her love of reading and writing with something she hadn’t expected: the interview.
She took that discovery to Howard University, one of the nation’s most storied historically Black universities, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in Media, Journalism and Film. Balancing school, work and social life was a learning curve. A late-closing job nearly swallowed her college experience whole until she figured out what her schedule actually needed to look like.
“I just remembered that I was where I was for school and nothing else,” she said. Her friends adapted with her, finding time between classes and homework, going out when they could. Sundays became sacred… A standing mental break of new restaurants, museum visits and long walks, no schoolwork allowed.
“I needed time to rest my brain and reward myself with a meal I didn’t cook,” Ellis said.
Going to school away from home, managing her own logistics each year with family in another state, securing housing, holding multiple jobs and building a community from scratch, Ellis came out the other side knowing something important about herself.
“I can not only survive but thrive wherever life may take me,” she said.
Ellis has served as a staff writer at the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder for several months, covering stories that center communities of color. She also hosts MSR’s On the Radar series. This summer, she heads to an internship at the Business Journal.
“Graduating from college allowed me to live my career dream of providing important, trustworthy information, especially for people of color,” Ellis said. “I am looking forward to continuing to tell the stories that others miss.”