Samantha Willis is an editorial producer at VPM, Virginia's Home for Public Media, and a journalist whose experience in digital, print and broadcast media spans a decade.
In August 2021, Samantha began her role as Editorial Producer for VPM's TV news show, to debut in early 2022. Pulling from her range of media experiences, Willis helps shape the show’s content, format, and overall vision.
Prior to joining VPM, Willis was an independent journalist whose award-winning work has appeared in leading publications including Glamour Magazine, Essence Magazine, HuffPost Life, DownBeat Magazine, Scalawag Magazine, and the Columbia Journalism Review. As a central Virginia-based freelance journalist, Willis contributed to a variety of local and regional media outlets including WRIC ABC 8News, NBC 12 News, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the Virginia Mercury, Richmond Magazine, Style Weekly, the Richmond Free Press, Virginia Living Magazine, Boomer Magazine, and Virginia Public Radio (WVTF), among others. Before freelancing, Willis' media experience included roles as Arts Editor at Richmond Magazine and Digital Content Manager at WRIC ABC 8News.
She is also the co-creator of The Unmasking Series, an anti-racism dialogue and workshop program which has convened four times throughout the state of Virginia: #UnmaskingRVA (Richmond, 2016-17), #UnmaskingCville (Charlottesville, 2018), #UnmaskingHR (South Hampton Roads, 2019), #UnmaskingPeninsula (The Virginia Peninsula/Hampton University, 2021).
Willis lives in Ashland, in her beloved hometown of Hanover County, with her husband Jamaal and three sons.
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Angie Miles interviews Delegate Marcia Price (D-95th) about her work protecting the right to vote and the impact of voter... -
In Cumberland County, the Pine Grove School sits at the intersection of environmental concern, historic preservation and industrial development. -
Rev. Dwylene Butler is the executive minister at Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church, a 154-year-old house of faith in Richmond's historic... -
The Rev. Cora Harvey Armstrong, a VUU alumna, is one of Virginia’s most celebrated gospel artists, and her career spans... -
Formerly enslaved preacher John Jasper founded Richmond’s Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church in an abandoned Confederate horse stable, two years... -
Two educators say teacher burnout stands to negatively impact the future of their profession in Virginia. -
The ADAMS Center and Lutheran Social Services combine efforts to help thousands of Afghans resettle in Virginia -
In December 2019, then-Gov. Ralph Northam and Wegmans Food Market, Inc. announced plans to construct a 1.1 million-square-foot regional distribution... -