BridgeDetroit announces new director to take publication to the next level

Veteran Detroit journalist and editor Laurén Abdel-Razzaq will join BridgeDetroit on January 1 as its new executive director. Abdel-Razzaq will build on BridgeDetroit’s financial, editorial and collaborative strengths and take the publication to the next level as it nears its four-year anniversary.

Abdel-Razzaq has an impressive background in journalism with an emphasis on digital media and has important experience and training in business operations. 

She comes to BridgeDetroit from Crain’s Detroit Business, where she has been an assistant managing editor, working with reporters who cover the city of Detroit, nonprofits, real estate and health care. She was previously the digital director for The Detroit News, and held several reporting jobs in that newsroom. 

Abdel-Razzaq also earned a master’s in Business Administration from Wayne State University and is pursuing a certification in nonprofit management, also from Wayne State.

A native of metro Detroit and a board member of the Asian American Journalists Association-Michigan chapter, Abdel-Razzaq will bring a new perspective to the small but mighty team at BridgeDetroit, which includes Engagement Director Orlando Bailey and Associate Editor Christine Ferretti. She has a particular passion for working with, recruiting and mentoring young journalists through internships, fellowships or early-career positions.

BridgeDetroit is a nonprofit news and engagement organization launched in 2020 as a project of The Center for Michigan, which also publishes the statewide Bridge Michigan. Stephen Henderson, executive advisor to BridgeDetroit, was a co-founder of BridgeDetroit and continues to act as an advisor and leader.

“Laurén will be a dynamic and energetic leader for our newsroom, and our operations,” Henderson said. “Her hiring is the culmination of a months-long search that included candidates from newsrooms and nonprofits all around the country. Laurén’s experience and background pushed her to the top of a very competitive field.”

Katy Locker, CEO of The Center for Michigan and a co-founder of BridgeDetroit, said: “Laurén is a veteran journalist and editor whose background in digital media, overseeing coverage of critical issues in Detroit and newsroom management will lift BridgeDetroit to new levels of excellence in its mission to engage and inform Detroiters.”

BridgeDetroit builds connections with Detroiters - through in-person and digital engagement - to discover their information priorities, and shapes its news coverage around what Detroiters say they need. BridgeDetroit publishes every day, has more than 30,000 subscribers to its newsletters and averages approximately 40,000 monthly website visitors.

Abdel-Razzaq will oversee both the newsroom and the operation in collaboration with the team at the Center for Michigan and Bridge Michigan and will build on BridgeDetroit’s quality journalism, effective engagement and service to Detroiters.

“I am incredibly honored to join the team at BridgeDetroit and expand the mission of serving Detroiters when, where and how they want to be served,” Abdel-Razzaq said. 

“Detroit is a wonderful town for news, and I look forward to helping this excellent team of talented reporters and editors expand our footprint and what we have to offer.”

Over the last four years, BridgeDetroit has been supported by its readers and by founding investments by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, the Skillman Foundation, the Hudson-Webber Foundation, the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation, the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, the Joyce Foundation, and the McGregor Fund, among others.