Chauncey Alcorn is the state and local politics reporter at Capital B Atlanta. He previously worked as a staff writer at CNN Business, the Daily Mail, and Mic. He has also written for theGrio, Fortune.com, Vice News, Salon, and the New York Daily News, among other major publications.
Kenya Hunter is the health reporter at Capital B Atlanta. Formerly, she served as the education reporter at The Richmond Times-Dispatch, where her work was named best education writing in the state by the Virginia Press Association. Hunter is a Georgia native whose first job was at the Rome News-Tribune in Rome, Georgia. Her reporting has also appeared in MTV News.
Sydney Sims is Capital B Atlanta’s general assignment reporter. Sims, an Atlanta native, joins Capital B from the Ledger-Enquirer of Columbus, Georgia, where she was the breaking news reporter. She has bylines in the Macon Telegraph and WABE News. Sims is a graduate of Auburn University, where she wrote for the student newspaper, The Plainsman, and interned at Heritage Radio Network, The Auburn Villager, and Columbus and The Valley.
Madeline Thigpen is Capital B Atlanta’s criminal justice reporter. Previously, she covered education at The Atlanta Voice as a Report for America corps member. Madeline is a graduate of American University. She has also covered education and local politics for TAPinto SOMA, Elizabeth, and Roselle/Roselle Park.
The Capital B Leadership Team
Lauren Williams is chief executive officer and co-founder of Capital B. Before starting Capital B, she was senior vice president and editor-in-chief of Vox, where oversaw all editorial and business operations. She also held the positions of executive editor and managing editor there. Prior to Vox, she was an editor at Mother Jones and The Root. Her first journalism job was in local news at the Daily Press in Newport News, Virginia.
Akoto Ofori-Atta is co-founder and chief audience officer of Capital B. She was previously managing editor at The Trace, where she was responsible for the award-winning newsroom’s partnerships, special projects, and editorial operations. She previously held positions as senior editor at Essence magazine and associate editor at The Root, and is a 2015 John S. Knight journalism fellow.
Gillian White is senior vice president of programming and revenue at Capital B. Gillian was formerly a managing editor at the Atlantic where she oversaw podcasts, editorial live events, special projects, and interactive storytelling. White has also worked as an editor and columnist at Kiplinger. She’s a member of The Philadelphia Inquirer’s board of directors.
Simone Sebastian is editorial director at Capital B. She comes to Capital B from The Washington Post, where she was the America editor and co-led the award-winning “George Floyd’s America” project, as well as the Pulitzer Prize-finalist coverage of the 2019 mass shootings in El Paso,Texas, and Dayton, Ohio. Sebastian was previously an editor for the Houston Chronicle, and her reporting has appeared in The New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Detroit Free Press.