#WTLCIndyNews: First Female Head Of National Black Journalist's Organization, Sidmel Estes, Dies At 60

Source: Courtesy NABJ / NABJ

A pioneer and journalism industry veteran, who served as the first woman to be elected president of the nation’s oldest and largest organization of journalists of color has died. Former president of the National Association of Black Journalists, Sidmel Estes, died Monday night at the age of 60. A seven-time Emmy Award-winning television producer in Atlanta, media business owner and college professor, Estes grew NABJ to record membership while addressing various issues impacting the blacks who worked, or were studying for careers, in the media industry–including the hot-button issue of diversity in America’s newsrooms.

Estes was also a co-creator and was instrumental in the founding of the first UNITY: Journalists of Color conference held in 1994. UNITY served as an organization that for many years united African-American, Hispanic-American, Native-American and Asian-American journalists through their professional associations to be living examples of diversity, cross-cultural understanding and change when the media industry covers communities of color.

According to NABJ, during Estes’ career in television and journalism, she was named Media Woman of the Year by the Atlanta Chapter of the National Association of Media Women, an honor which led then-Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young to proclaim November 18, 1988 as “Sidmel Estes-Sumpter Day.” She was also featured in Ebony Magazine’s “100 Most Influential Black Americans” in 1993 and in More Magazine’s book, “50 Over 50.”

Estes founded BreakThrough Inc., a media consulting firm that served a diverse list of clients including the Frederick Douglass Family Foundation, the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation, the McCormick Tribune Fellow Foundation, and the Atlanta Center for Creative Inquiry.

She was a Northwestern University alum where she also served as a former president of the Northwestern Black Alumni Association in 2004. Estes was the proud mother of two sons, who along with a nation of journos and media industry professionals grieve her passing. A name you should know, history maker Sidmel Estes died Monday night after a mystery illness.

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