Stephannia Cleaton, business editor of the Staten Island Advance, will be sworn in as the first female African-American president of The New York Press Club at the organization’s Annual Awards and Installation Dinner on June 26.
An award-winning New York City newspaper journalist for more than 20 years, Cleaton graduated from Virginia Tech and began her journalism career as an intern at the New York Times. She went on to work for the New York Voice and Associated Press before joining the Staten Island Advance in 1989.
In 1991, she received an award from the New York Association of Black Journalists for her feature story on the “The Bride and the Bill,� which discussed the high cost of planning a wedding.
Cleaton will be the second African-American to be club president since the organization’s inception in 1948. (The first was Joe Bragg of WHN radio in 1977.) In addition, she will be the first newspaper person elected to the NYPC presidency since 1991. By coincidence, Cleaton celebrates her 20th anniversary as member of the club this year.
“It is certainly an honor to be chosen to lead such a sterling organization. The New York Press Club has an excellent and deep history, and I hope, as president, I can add to that legacy,� she stated.
Cleaton is also a member of the National Association of Black Journalists, vice president of the Garden State Association of Black Journalists and is an adjunct professor in the College of Professional Studies at St. John’s University, Staten Island campus.
BusinessWeek won the NYPC award for business coverage this year for excellence in a story or series representing business, finance, trends or management. The winning story was called “Why GM’s Plan Won’t Work” and was written by David Welch and Dan Beucke.
