Emily Hood
July 20, 2022
Emily Hood, a rising junior at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, recently won the $2,500 Donald W. Reynolds Scholarship in Business Journalism in recognition of her dedication to excellent business journalism during her time at the School.
“Emily has been a pioneer at the Missouri Business Alert,” said Randy Smith, founder and publisher of Missouri Business Alert and the Donald W. Reynolds Endowed Chair in Business Journalism. “The Facebook Live program she does every week was purely an idea she had on her own, and she has been very entrepreneurial in building a community around the program. Her interpersonal skills and strong interest in business journalism make her a perfect fit for this scholarship.”
Hood’s Facebook Live program presents weekly conversations with business experts geared toward helping small business owners grow their businesses and tackle common problems. In addition to this and other reporting duties at Missouri Business Alert — a digital business journalism newsroom housed at the School of Journalism — she has pursued other business journalism opportunities, including her current summer internship with the Kansas City Star as a Dow Jones intern.
At the Star, she is working with the paper’s audience team to launch a TikTok account and finding other ways to draw readers to the Star’s content. The experience is further proof for Hood that business journalism can take many forms, a truth she feels many students aren’t aware of.
“I think some people think it’s a lot of math,” Hood said. “It’s more about helping people in their day to day lives. Our saying at the Missouri Business Alert is, ‘any story can be a business story,’ and I’ve really seen how true that is.”
Hood hopes to work for a business journalism outlet’s audience engagement team once she earns her degree, a goal that aligns well with her current social media-centered internship. For her, the scholarship’s support is more than a monetary gift — it’s another example of the School and its faculty having her back.
“It’s such an honor to be recognized for business journalism, and I’m forever grateful for all the mentorship I’ve received at the J-School,” she said. “The faculty here is completely unmatched. I’ve never run into anyone who wouldn’t make time for me, and I don’t think I would have my internship with the Star this summer without their willingness to help out.”
The scholarship is named for Donald W. Reynolds, a journalist, businessman, entrepreneur and 1927 graduate of the School of Journalism who built a media empire that stretched across the country. Although he died in 1993, Reynolds remains the largest private donor to the Missouri School of Journalism, having funded the creation of the Reynolds Journalism Institute, Smith’s endowed chair position, and this scholarship, among other gifts.
