Find Your Mentor

Kelsey Proud is the Online News Association’s Learning Director, where she oversees the strategy and implementation of training and community engagement activities for journalists around the world. Her portfolio includes ONA’s annual conference, the Women’s Leadership Accelerator and a range of in-person and virtual events.

As her time allows, Kelsey also takes on select projects as an independent editor, trainer, coach and strategic consultant.

Most recently, Kelsey was Managing Editor of Audience at WAMU in D.C. where she led a team of digital journalists, coordinated newsroom training initiatives, and consulted on projects across the organization. Previously, Kelsey spent six years at St. Louis Public Radio in digital and management roles. During her time in St. Louis, the station earned several national awards for digital work including a Peabody-Facebook Futures of Media Award, an Online Journalism Award from the Online News Association and an Edward R. Murrow award.

Mentoring, inclusion and building empathetic teams have been central to Kelsey throughout her career — she has volunteered as an active member of diversity and inclusion committees in her workplaces and as a mentor within the Next Generation Radio and Public Media Women In Journalism programs, among others. Kelsey is a co-leader and trainer of the ongoing Public Media Journalists Association Editor’s Workshop and a former fellow with the Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri.

Kelsey currently lives in Indianapolis with her husband and is excited to talk with you.