Francesca Donner, Founder & Editor-in-Chief, The Persistent

Francesca Donner, Founder & Editor-in-Chief, The Persistent

From WomenHeard by New York Women in Communications

August 19, 2025 · 59 min · Episode 100

About this episode

Francesca Donner discusses the importance of prioritizing women's stories in mainstream news and shares her insights on AI's impact on journalism.

“In most mainstream news, women’s stories are not prioritized. They’re not centered. Women are often covered as an afterthought, as a sidebar to the main event, as if women are not an integral part of the story.” In this episode, WomenHeard host Julie Hochheiser Ilkovich interviews Francesca Donner, the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Persistent . Dedicated to amplifying women’s voices and stories, the platform’s mission is to "cover women for a change". Francesca honed her storytelling skills and newsroom expertise at The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Forbes, launching initiatives that brought together a rich variety of perspectives. Listen to this episode for Francesca's thoughts on AI's effect on the newsroom and hear her perspective on what it means for allies to step in.

People in this episode

Host: Julie Hochheiser Ilkovich

Guest: Francesca Donner

Topics covered

  • women's stories
  • media representation
  • AI in journalism

Keywords

  • The Persistent
  • storytelling
  • newsroom expertise
  • women's voices

Mentioned in this episode

Products: The Persistent

More episodes of WomenHeard

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the WomenHeard podcast page.