Keiona Williamson

Keiona Williamson is a strategist and idea architect who builds models for sustainability, equity, and community power. She currently serves as Journalism Sustainability Director at the James B. McClatchy Foundation, where she develops frameworks and partnerships that support the future of local news philanthropy in California’s Central Valley. In this role, she designs frameworks that strengthen BIPOC-led and community-rooted newsrooms, convenes major funders, and guides Press Forward Central Valley to position the region as a national leader in equitable investment.

A Sacramento native, Keiona has built her career at the intersection of strategy, media, and civic life. She co-founded DRIP, a civic-minded espresso café that became a hub for local democracy, and launched The Equity Lab at The Sacramento Bee, a first-of-its-kind initiative to diversify the paper’s historically white, affluent audience.

Her early career includes serving as Executive Assistant to the Publisher of The New York Times Sunday Magazine and T: The New York Times Style Magazine, where she supported advertising strategy, expanded distribution for The 1619 Project, and contributed to large-scale initiatives that bridged journalism and cultural impact. She was later featured in JBMF’s Sunrise Futures: Moving Towards Liberation series spotlighting extraordinary Central Valley leaders.

Across roles and fields, Keiona is known for bringing clarity, vision, and frameworks that move ideas from aspiration to reality.