For more than a decade, Denisha Thomas’s career has taken her across the country - from being an intern in Atlanta, Georgia to working professionally in Jonesboro, Arkansas; Cleveland, Ohio; Buffalo, New York; Memphis, Tennessee and now, back to Atlanta. During this journey, she has been a game changer, growing her various stations’ ratings, standards and people.
In 2020, Denisha was named news director of ABC24 News in her hometown of Memphis. The promotion made her the first Black female news director in the market. She spent nearly four years changing the narrative of how news is told in the Bluff City. Her station was committed to not just sharing the region’s challenges but focusing on solution-seeking and contextual storytelling. This strategy led to ABC24 becoming the only station in the Memphis market seeing year-over-year growth in aggregated broadcast share and across all digital platforms.
Denisha takes pride in the fact that more than a dozen of her former team members have grown and developed their skills as journalist under her leadership, allowing them to successfully work in top 25 news markets.
Several organizations have honored Denisha including the 2020 Poynter Institute and Washington Post Leadership Academy for Diversity in Digital Media, the 2022 Carole Kneeland Project for Responsible Journalism Fellowship, Cynthia Daniels and Company’s 2022 40 Most Influential Urban Elite Professionals Under 40 and the National Association of Black Journalists’ 2024 Leadership Academy.
Denisha is a three-time EMMY-nominated producer and a seven-time Regional Edward R. Murrow Award recipient.
She is a proud graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia. Denisha is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists, Memphis Association of Black Journalists and the Junior League of Memphis.
When she is not spending time with her beloved dog, Daisy, traveling the world, spending time with family and friends, participating in early morning workouts or even just listening to a good book, you can find her mentoring current and future newsroom leaders and the next generation of journalists.
What story needs to be told? Reach out to Kristie now:
Email | dthomas@11alive.com