Publisher & CEO, Atlanta Daily World ? Atlanta, Ga.
Marian Alexis Scott ran from the family business even though journalism and publishing were in her blood. ?I never intended to work in the family business,? she says. ?But once I decided what kind of career I wanted, it was in newspaper journalism.? Today, she is publisher and CEO of the Atlanta Daily World, Atlanta?s oldest continuously publishing Black-owned newspaper. Her grandfather founded it in 1928.
Following studies at Barnard College, New York, and Spelman College, Atlanta, and a journalism fellowship at Columbia University, Scott spent nearly 19 years at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution as a reporter, editor and finally as the vice president of community affairs. She left in 1993 to become the director of diversity at the Journal?s parent company, Cox Enterprises. With Jay Smith, currently president of Cox Enterprises, as her mentor, she learned ?the value of the team management style that drew on the strengths of the people on the team to make the whole greater than any one of its parts.? From her parents, she learned to look at the world ?as a place of love and generosity that benefits me greatly in the way I interact with people,? she says.
By 1996, steeped in a commitment to excellence, service and family, she was ready for the family paper. ?I was teaching a Sunday school lesson about God?s calling for our lives, and I realized that I was being called to continue the legacy started by my grandfather.? In 1997 she was named publisher and CEO.
A native of Atlanta, Scott sits on the boards of many of the city?s cultural and civic organizations. She is also involved with many professional organizations. She has received a plethora of awards and distinctions for her work as a journalist, including an honorary doctor of humane letters from Atlanta?s Argosy University in 2003. She dreams of traveling ?to experience the beauty and diversity of cultures, people and places.?
?B.W.H.
