by Chitra Iyer
From an early age, NaBeela Washington wrote short fiction and poetry while growing up in Birmingham, Alabama. She didn’t initially view it as a career path, but eventually, she recalls, “journalism found me.”
Washington has always wanted to help people, and considered a range of careers from nursing to teaching. At the University of Alabama at Birmingham, she coupled that with her love for storytelling and graduated with a degree in visual advertising.
After earning her master’s degree in English and creative writing and living on the East Coast, Washington eventually relocated to Chicago to support youth through creative writing programs, and fell in love with a city that, to her, “has a bit of everything.”
In the Windy City, she founded Lucky Jefferson, an award-winning creative arts nonprofit combining art and advocacy to reduce harm in publishing, and curates public arts exhibits. An accomplished poet, she has received a Best New Poets nomination and a Voices of Color Poet Fellowship from the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing.
She was drawn to City Bureau because of its commitment to human-centered community engagement and reporting. She views her writing as “a tool to move people, to change communities,” and strives to uplift marginalized voices and to address stark gaps and racial disparities in media coverage. Today, her work appears in Eater, Chicago Reader, South Side Weekly and the TRiiBE.