Travis Quezon named Executive Director of The Seattle Globalist

Travis Quezon (Photo by The Seattle Globalist.)

Longtime journalist Travis Quezon has been hired by The Seattle Globalist to be its Executive Director.

The Seattle Globalist brings on Quezon, the Editor-in-Chief of the International Examiner in Seattle, after a search that drew a diverse pool of very qualified applicants.

“The Seattle Globalist’s Board of Directors and the hiring committee members were unanimous in our support for Travis Quezon, who will bring his steady spirit of collaboration and generosity to the role of Executive Director,” said Globalist board president Anita Verna Crofts. “His journalism background and his deep commitment to community stewardship will build on The Seattle Globalist’s strong foundation of being a platform for underrepresented voices in our region with stories that need to be told. We are thrilled for The Seattle Globalist’s future as we launch it into the next era together.”

Quezon joins Editorial Director Venice Buhain and Education Director Christina Twu at The Seattle Globalist.

“I’m very humbled and honored to be joining the team in continuing The Seattle Globalist’s mission to elevate diverse voices through media,” Quezon said. “We have a fantastic staff and board. Together, with our readers and supporters, we have a tremendous opportunity to continue growing and doing new and great things in our communities.

“It’s essential in today’s political climate that we keep striving to empower diverse voices who can share their own stories and develop journalists to report on issues that would otherwise not be covered in mainstream media,” he said. “We are building a media environment where people can learn from each others’ diverse experiences, empathize with each others’ stories and bridge the divides that we face today. I’m excited to be a part of The Seattle Globalist’s commitment to solid journalism and to empowering diverse voices.”

Quezon, at the helm of the International Examiner since 2013, has a distinguished career in nonprofit journalism. Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, Quezon has a degree in English from the University of Hawaii and also attended Kapiolani Community College. He was the managing editor of the Honolulu Weekly and executive editor of The Hawaii Independent.

While in Hawaii, Quezon won a Hawaii Publishers PAI award for enterprise reporting on Honolulu’s homeless communities in 2008. He also worked as a communications specialist for Hawaii State Representative Mele Carroll, who at the time, was chair of the House Committee on Hawaiian Affairs. Quezon also worked as a freelance journalist in Hawaii and Seattle for Reuters and Bloomberg. He covered a variety of international stories, including the 2011 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings, and President Barack Obama’s visits to Hawaii.

The Seattle Globalist is a daily online publication with a mission to elevate diverse voices through media. The Globalist covers communities of color, immigrant communities and international connections to Seattle, and the organization trains people from those communities to produce media through workshops, apprenticeships and other education programs.

Journalists and University of Washington (UW) faculty members Jessica Partnow, Sarah Stuteville and Alex Stonehill founded the organization in 2005 as the Common Language Project (CLP), originally focused on international news and reporting projects. During a period of incubation and development under the UW’s Department of Communication, Partnow, Stuteville and Stonehill renamed the organization The Seattle Globalist in 2012, with a new website and new mission.

In its five years of existence, The Seattle Globalist has published more than 600 contributors (writers, reporters and photographers), and more than 2,000 stories. Our contributors are 67 percent people of color, 73 percent women and 45 percent immigrants or first-generation Americans.

In 2016, The Seattle Globalist formally began its full independence as a community-supported news organization. The organization successfully launched its first campaign for monthly sustaining members in December 2016, and now gets $40,000 of annual support from sustainers. Earlier in 2017, the Globalist received two major grants to support development: $100,000 from the Washington Women’s Foundation and $100,000 from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Seattle Globalist is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.

Quezon’s first day at The Seattle Globalist will be Dec. 1, 2017.

2 Comments

  1. Huge congrats to you, Travis! The Seattle Globalist is fortunate indeed!

  2. Congratulations Travis for this achievement. I look forward to your leadership in managing this amazing organization. Yes, we are fortunate to have you in this position.

Comments are closed.

2 Comments

  1. Huge congrats to you, Travis! The Seattle Globalist is fortunate indeed!

  2. Congratulations Travis for this achievement. I look forward to your leadership in managing this amazing organization. Yes, we are fortunate to have you in this position.

Comments are closed.