JAWS CAMP 2025 Panel: The Business of Freelancing
(WASHINGTON, DC) - JAWS’ 40th Anniversary Conference and Mentoring Program (CAMP) will be held September 5-7, 2025 at The Royal Sonesta Hotel in Washington, DC’s Dupont Circle neighborhood.
Join us on Sunday, Sept. 7 for a panel dedicated to the business of freelancing, from starting your own Substack to managing your money the right way. This year’s panelists include award-winning investigative journalist and freelance Substack writer Kirstin Garriss, financial planner and wealth management expert Anna N'Jie Konte and Katherine Reynolds Lewis, founder of the Institute for Independent Journalists.
What happens at CAMP? This will be JAWS’ 40th CAMP. While the format and size have varied over the years, the goal has not: to bring women journalists together from different specialties, beats, demographics and geographies to share with, learn from and empower each other. There will be structured presentations and workshops, planned social events and free time for unstructured relationship-building and city exploration. The CAMP Site Selection Committee chose Washington, D.C. based on feedback from members urging a balance between an urban setting allowing easier travel with access to a get-away-from-it-all vibe. The committee also took into account the venue’s capacity, support for conferences, cost and central location.
Stay tuned for more programming announcements and updated information on the CAMP page.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:
Kirstin Garriss is an award-winning investigative journalist with experience covering national politics at both the local and national levels. Currently, Kirstin is a freelance writer, covering stories about race and culture, criminal justice and national issues. You can read her latest work in The Guardian. Most recently, she was a Washington Correspondent for Cox Media Group (CMG) where she covered the White House, Congress, Supreme Court and national issues for more than a dozen local TV and radio stations. Her reporting expertise included election security, transportation, healthcare and consumer trends. Kirstin was also a 2023 Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellow. On the local level, Kirstin was an investigative reporter at FOX13 Memphis where she won a 2021 Regional Murrow Award for her two-part series, "Black in America: Generational Pain and Healing" highlighting the experiences of four generations of Memphis men about racial inequity. Kirstin also worked as the Government Reporter for Spectrum News in Charlotte, NC where she covered the 2016 Republican National Convention and Democratic National Convention along with Charlotte's bid for the 2020 Republican National Convention. Kirstin has also worked at WDVM (formerly WHAG-TV), at NPR and NBC News in Washington, D.C. Kirstin is a 2021 Gracies Award winner, a nationwide honor from the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation recognizing women in the media industry.
Anna N’Jie-Konte is a powerhouse in the world of wealth management—an experienced financial advisor, sought-after speaker, and vocal advocate for financial wellness. She is on a mission to help ambitious women build, preserve, and wield their wealth with power and purpose. As the founder of Poder Wealth Advisors, Anna challenges the status quo in financial planning, ensuring that women’s values, goals, and legacies take center stage. Whether speaking to high-net-worth individuals, industry professionals, or women redefining their financial futures, she brings bold insights, real talk, and a deep understanding of what it takes to create lasting wealth. Her work isn’t just about money—it’s about transformation. Anna believes that when women take control of their wealth, they change not only their own lives but their families, communities, and the world.
Katherine Reynolds Lewis is the founder of the Institute for Independent Journalists, which serves freelancers of color; special projects editor on the science of love for Greater Good Magazine; and a columnist for Nieman Reports on media careers and equity in journalism. An award-winning science journalist and author, her work has appeared in the Atlantic, Elemental, Fortune, New York Times, Parents, Slate, and Washington Post. Her book on children’s behavioral and mental health, The Good News About Bad Behavior, grew out of the most-read story Mother Jones has ever published. Fellowships include O’Brien Public Service Journalism, MIT Knight Science Journalism, Medill and RJI innovation. She has taught courses or lectured at the journalism schools of American University, Marquette University, Northwestern University, the University of Southern California, and the University of Texas, Austin. A Harvard physics graduate, Katherine previously worked as a national correspondent for Newhouse and Bloomberg News.
ABOUT THE MODERATOR:
Lottie Joiner is an award-winning multimedia journalist with more than two decades of experience covering issues that impact underserved and marginalized communities. She is the former editor-in-chief of The Crisis Magazine, the official publication of the NAACP founded by civil rights activist W.E.B. DuBois. The quarterly journal focused on social and political issues affecting minority communities, Black history, African American art and culture. During her tenure at The Crisis, the magazine won several national awards. Joiner also hosted and produced the weekly Facebook Live show Crisis Conversations, which focused on how the pandemic impacted minority communities. The show featured a diverse lineup of panelists from underserved communities. Later, Crisis Conversations focused on the nation’s racial reckoning after the murder of George Floyd.
Joiner’s work explores the conditions and lived experiences of those in underserved communities. She has written extensively about the Civil Rights Movement with articles published in The Washington Post, USA Today, The Daily Beast, The Nation, The Guardian, Time.com and TheAtlantic.com. She has also written for a number of minority-focused publications including Ebony and Jet magazines, Essence, NBCBLK, The Undefeated, The Grio and The Root. In addition to her publishing accomplishments, Joiner has also participated in a number of professional development opportunities. She was a 2015 Center for Health Journalism Fellow at the University of Southern California at Annenberg. Joiner participated in Yale University’s 2016 Thread at Yale Media Storytelling program, and in 2017 she was named a Schuster Institute/Fund for Investigative Journalism Diversity Fellow. In 2019, Joiner was a Pulitzer Center grantee and a Folio 100 Honoree, which recognizes the top innovators in publishing. In 2021, she was chosen for the Maynard Institute’s Maynard 200 Fellowship, participating in its Executive Leadership program. That same year she participated in the Poynter Leadership Academy for Women in Media program.
Joiner is a former board member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA), a former board member of the Fund for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) and a current board member of JAWS, where she also served as captain of the DC region. In 2024, JAWS chose Joiner as the organization’s inaugural Alicia Shepard Fellow, in honor of the late award-winning journalist and JAWS member Alicia Shepard. She is based in New Orleans.