President
Nicolle Sartain is a journalist based in Georgia. She currently serves as vice president of the Georgia chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Nicolle is a researcher at CNN on The Row vetting scripts and written work for factual accuracy, looking for background information and context. Before joining the network, she was a producer at WTOC in Savannah with experience producing newscasts in both the evenings and mornings. She produced shows in many severe weather situations winning a 2019 GABBY for Best Team Weather Coverage. Her background is in writing and newsroom management. She wrote for The Red & Black in Athens serving in multiple editorial roles including News Editor and Editor-in-Chief. With a passion for investigations and long-form journalism, she also worked for the newspaper’s sister publication Ampersand as Executive Editor. She graduated with a B.A. in Journalism from The University of Georgia in December 2017.
Vice President
Michelle Watson is a News Editor for CNN’s National Assignment desk. Prior to working for the National Assignment desk Michelle worked for Row at CNN as a Researcher.
Before the Row, Michelle worked as an editorial review assistant in CNN’s Image + Sound department where she checked for spelling, source accuracy, dates, and editorial errors. She also had the opportunity to field produce on two occasions – one for Hurricane Irma and again for the Parkland School shooting.
Prior to CNN, Michelle worked for Legacy Worldwide, as a Television Program Copywriter and Social Media Engagement Specialist where she wrote scripts, produced for shows, and worked on branding the company. Michelle has also been a copywriter for Gwinnett Magazine covering local businesses, education and trends for the second most populous county in Georgia.
Her interests include hiking, drinking tea, toy poodles (primarily her own toy poodle, Bently) and anything to do with macaroni and cheese.
Treasurer
Teylor Jo Parks is the executive producer at 13 WMAZ in Macon. She’s a detail-oriented multimedia producer with a background in writing and experience in the broadcast journalism and marketing industries. She’s skilled in producing engaging broadcast, print, and digital content that is adaptable across platforms and audiences.
Board Members at Large
Jatika Hudson has been a member of the Society of Professional Journalists – GA since 2016 and is currently the co-chair of the freelance committee. Today she’s works as an editorial lead at AT&T and a writer for the Fulton County School District and VaVa Virtual. In 2001, she graduated from Clark Atlanta University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Media Arts/Print Journalism and has been writing professionally for more than 20 years. Her work has taken her from interning at BET to attending New York Fashion Week to telling the stories of community activism/activists. She’s been published in Upscale, The Atlanta Voice, The Crisis, Atlanta INtown and in 2006, she was nominated for an award by the Atlanta Association of Black Journalists for a branding Atlanta story. In 2020, she was a Journalist for Aging fellow for the Gerontological Society of America. She continues to write for community and entertainment publications across the nation.
Mark Woolsey is a longtime radio news anchor/reporter/newsroom manager, freelance writer/editor and meteorologist. A native of Illinois and a graduate of Southern Illinois University’s Mass Communications program, Mark has worked as a news director, assignment editor, field/in-house reporter and occasional talk show host for stations in Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and finally, Georgia. After graduating from the Mississippi State University Broadcast Meteorology Program, Marked worked for 12 years as a radio and television meteorologist for The Weather Channel. He was lauded for his reports that were part of spot news coverage awards presented to WIOD in Miami, KTRH in Houston and other notable radio news operations. He’s also done a wide variety of freelance writing work for publications including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The Atlanta Sunday Paper (defunct), Wichita Magazine and the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Most recently, he’s been an anchor/reporter for the Georgia News Network and NBC Newsradio, based in Atlanta. He’s also done a grab bag of other media-related stuff, from radio and mobile deejay work to commercial voicework to traffic reporting. Mark serves as the co-chair of the Freelance Committee.
Jennifer Parks is a 2007 graduate of Georgia Southern University (Hail Southern!), where she received a bachelor’s degree in journalism. She completed a summer internship at the Waycross Journal-Herald, and began working for The Albany Herald in September 2008 as a reporter. During her time at The Herald, Parks covered a number of different beats and gained experience in copy editing. She resigned from the position in October 2019, and now works as a public affairs specialist at Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany.
Student Representative
Student Representative Lars Lonnroth is a junior journalism and political science student at Mercer University. Professionally, he has worked with 13 WMAZ and interned with Georgia Public Broadcasting’s digital and podcasting departments. While working in high school journalism, Lars received over 30 local, state and national journalism awards, including receiving 1st, 3rd and 5th in the nation for podcasting at the National Scholastic Press Association’s annual conference. He has also been recognized by NPR, the National Women’s Press Association and the John Drury High School Radio Awards. When not reporting, you can find Lars giving tours as part of Mercer’s Office of Admissions, working with students as a Mercer Peer Advisor or running around Mercer’s beautiful campus.
SPJ Georgia 