Watch Chancellor’s Colloquium, “Diverse Voices in the Media: Amplifying Inclusivity and Representation”

Updated March 6: Byrhonda Lyons will be unable to participate in the event.

Updated 4:30 p.m. Feb. 22: Vicki Gonzalez of Capital Public Radio has been added to the lineup for the event.

Five prominent journalists from around the region will join Chancellor Gary S. May on March 6 for a discussion on ways they can use their platforms to make diverse voices heard.

The conversation, “Diverse Voices in the Media: Amplifying Inclusivity and Representation,” is part of the Chancellor’s Colloquium Distinguished Speaker Series.

Tickets are available now to the free event, to be held in the Mondavi Center’s Vanderhoef Studio Theatre.

Joining May on stage will be:

Brandi Cummings, an anchor with KCRA 3 News who has been with that station since 2018, covering everything from wildfires to snow to COVID-19 vaccine equity. A native of Augusta, Georgia, and a former adjunct professor at the Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communication at Hampton University, Cummings has received awards from the Virginia Associated Press and the South Carolina Associated Press. She is a two-time National Association of Black Journalists Salute to Excellence Award winner.

Vicki Gonzalez, the host of Insight on Capital Public Radio, where she conducts in-depth interviews “to provide background and understanding on breaking news, big events, politics and culture in the Sacramento region and beyond.” She previously worked for KCRA, where she earned awards for her reporting on wildfires, unemployment fraud, homelessness and more. A UC Berkeley alumna, she is a native of Los Angeles with family roots in Mexico, Japan, England and India.

Byrhonda Lyons, an investigative journalist with CalMatters, where she covers the state’s courts and criminal justice system. Her work has been recognized with a National Headliner Award and multiple honors from the California News Publishers Association. Lyons previously worked for the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service, and is an alumna of UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism and the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.

Chris Thomas, an anchor at ABC10, where he has covered historic wildfires, the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington and unrest following the deaths of Stephon Clark in 2018 and Freddie Gray in 2015. He graduated with departmental honors from Morehouse College in Atlanta and went on to work in his hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, before anchoring newscasts in Richmond, Virginia, and Augusta, Georgia.

Lonnie Wong ’74, who got his start in broadcast journalism at KDVS and went on to work at Sacramento’s Fox 40 for more than four decades before retiring in 2021. During his time at that station, he covered everything from earthquakes to floods to high-profile murders and political scandals. He was a founding board member and president of the Sacramento Chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association in 1985, and was the first Asian American broadcast journalist in the California State Capitol Press Corps. He has worked with numerous community organizations and has been recognized by the California Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus and with the Chinese American Council of Sacramento’s Frank Fat Founder’s Award.