Rachel Jones Joins 2023 WHRO Emerging Leaders Advisory Board

Moving from behind the camera to center stage is Rachel Jones, a multimedia designer at Old Dominion University, who has been selected to join the 2023 WHRO/WHRV Emerging Leaders Advisory Board.

Jones is a proud graduate of James Madison University School of Media Arts and Designs, where she cultivated her passion for media production. She’s been working in video and studio production for over 24 years, serving local Hampton Roads studios by producing  video for documentaries, sporting events, and graphic design. As a multimedia designer in ODU’s Division of Digital Learning, Jones is responsible for developing, creating, and implementing course videos for digital learners taking online courses though ODUGlobal.

In addition to designing courses, Jones also acts as a liaison between groups within her department to ensure quality standards, communication, and collaboration.

Jones has served in many organizations. She has been a member of the Art Enter Cape Charles Board of Directors and volunteered as crew for WHRO’s Dr. Madblood’s Halloween TV Special. She is also an active judge for the Great Computer Challenge, a joint project of WHRO, ODU, and the Consortium for Interactive Instruction. With a servant’s heart, she saw an opportunity to explore leadership and make a difference by applying for the 2023 WHRO/WHRV Emerging Leader Advisory Board.

WHRO’s Emerging Leaders Advisory Board works to increase young professionals’ engagement in public media’s mission through the creation of unique, entertaining, and educational opportunities. The group also reviews WHRO’s programming, community, and station initiatives and provides feedback and recommendations on opportunities to maximize reach to millennial and similar audiences.

When asked, “Why now?”, Jones responded, “I do a lot of things for other people, and I thought this was something that I could do from myself. I have an opportunity to engage with other professionals who have talents and ambitions, who will help make a difference in this community by having a say in what our public media broadcasts.”

The Emerging Leaders Board, also known as ELBows, is a dynamic group made up of 13 young professionals between the ages of 21-40 year olds. Each member is charged with planning, promoting, and executing successful Board-generated initiatives that promote the station to, and actively engage, millennial and similar audiences through powerful tools such as podcasts, emerging talks, and more.

Jones shared three key ways how serving at ODU made an impact on her decision to join the advisory board at WHRO. First, she regularly exercises her ability to forge great working relationships with her co-workers and other faculty members. She was able to spread her wings in the way of leadership through Digital Learning by helping lead significant projects, such as co-chairing plans for ODU's annual Faculty Summer Conference. Lastly, she saw her future in higher education, where she returns to school to further her college education. This will afford her the opportunity to pour into the next generation.

“The world is changing, so is the way we consume media. Culture is being comprised by fads that can become a distraction to our next generation. I want to help make a difference by having a say in what our public media broadcasts while helping represent a long standing and well-known organization,” says Jones. 

The future is changing everyday. The next generation will have more technology, media, innovation, and technology invading their physical, mental, and emotional spaces. New social media platforms will arise, new companies will thrive, problems will occur, and solutions will come. Humans with the hearts to serve like Jones, and organizations like WHRO with the hearts to lead, will continue to provide the world new opportunities to teach, train, and equip the emerging eras to come.

Old Dominion University, located in the coastal city of Norfolk, is Virginia's entrepreneurial-minded doctoral research university and has been delivering distance-learning programs for 35 years. It offers more than 120 programs through ODUGlobal in a variety of formats, allowing students to complete degree programs across the world. ODU serves more than 24,000 students annually by providing the same rigorous academics online and on-campus. Learn more about ODUGlobal’s programs by visiting online.odu.edu.