Today we are mourning the loss of a beloved friend and colleague, Mandy Jenkins. We could always count on Mandy for her brilliant insights as much as her dry humor. Mandy has been an amazing collaborator and partner at Meedan, from our work together getting the First Draft Coalition started, to panels and workshops at Online News Association and International Journalism Festival conferences. Mandy was always the hardest charging person in the room, the last person at the bar, and the clearest eyed person at breakfast—because she had already logged a five mile run. 

We worked alongside Mandy on both Electionland and CrossCheck, two groundbreaking election monitoring projects in the U.S. and France respectively.  We also spent the better part of a year working to develop a 2020 U.S. project called Election Exchange with Mandy. We were honored to share a stage with her at the Online Journalism Awards and the International Journalism Festival, and to attend countless other conferences and brainstorming sessions with her.

Mandy was a remarkable colleague. She had the ability to hold larger than life energy while also being the most down to earth person in the room. For those of us Mandy inspired, her commitment to young journalists — particularly those in the small market newsrooms of middle America — continues to guide our work. Thank you, Mandy, for your being a wise friend, a trusted collaborator and a force of nature for journalism writ large.

For more on Mandy’s remarkable life and impact on journalism, please read Anna Huntsman’s reflections in Ideastream Public Media: Remembering Mandy Jenkins, Kent State grad and national digital news pioneer