Alumna Makes Global Impact as Journalist Giulia Heyward Introduces Her Byline to the World

BY ABBY WEINGARTEN ‘00

GIULIA HEYWARD FOUND HER JOURNALISTIC VOICE AT NEW COLLEGE. She has been amplifying it ever since. The young graduate student, who earned a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts in 2018, has already written articles for The New York Times, HuffPost and The New Republic—pieces about issues like political reform and civil rights.

“Due to my upbringing and my status as a Black queer woman, I’ve always gravitated toward writing stories about people who have been historically underrepresented,” said Heyward, the former editor-in-chief of New College’s student newspaper, The Catalyst. “A lot of the stories I’ve written lately have either been about the pandemic or the protests. There’s not a huge difference between what I wrote then and what I’m writing now; it’s just on a much larger scale.”

Heyward’s passion for journalism first emerged under the mentorship of anthropology professor Maria Vesperi, Ph.D., who sponsored The Catalyst tutorial as well as Heyward’s thesis, Black Lives Matter! The Representation of Black Activism in the Press.

As a writer, editor and photographer for the campus paper, Heyward would cover local protests with New College students and Black History Month (BHM) events on campus. Today, as an editorial intern for The Washington Monthly (and a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Heyward is chronicling unemployment, police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement.

“I think we’re in such a momentous period of time right now where not only are we seeing impactful discussions about issues that have been going on for a while, but we’re also having a larger discussion in the media about what representation looks like and the way newsrooms have been predominantly white institutions for so long,” said Heyward, who is half Black and half Italian. “I grew up in a multiracial household, so I’ve always understood the way race exists in this country. Stories about people like that have always intrigued me.”

The topic of representation in the media is as significant to Heyward today as it was when she was an undergraduate at New College. She was active in the BHM planning committee and, during her third year, her friends Miles Iton and Paul Loriston co-founded the Black Student Union (BSU). Heyward made connections there that have outlasted her college years.

“I’m inspired every day by the people I went to school with. Had it not been for the people I had around me in the Black and queer community there, as well as professors Zabriskie and Vesperi, I don’t know if I would have been able to graduate,” Heyward said. “I had so many people around me doing really cool, important work to make the school a better place.” “I’m inspired every day by And the people I went to school Heyward is with. Had it not been for the grateful for the people I had around me guidance she received from in the Black and queer Vesperi during community there, as well her time on as professors Zabriskie and The Catalyst Vesperi, I don’t know if I would that now have been able to graduate.” informs her work ethic as a writer.

“Maria Vesperi very much inspired me to be a go-getter and someone who wasn’t afraid to put my nose against the grindstone and write stories,” Heyward said. “I genuinely would not be where I am if it weren’t for her.”

Heyward plans to complete a master’s degree in journalism next year, and her graduate thesis is a collection of stories about LGBTQ-inclusive legislation in North Carolina. Ultimately, she hopes to work full-time for a legacy news outlet.

“I’d love to have the opportunity to run a newsroom at some point, especially if it means being the first Black person or the first Black woman or the first Black openly queer person to run the place,” Heyward said.