Rhonda B. Sewell

Rhonda B. Sewell is the Media Relations Coordinator of the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library, and is responsible for promoting the Library through special events, publications, Web site, commercials, and shares the responsibility of spokesperson with the Library’s Marketing Manager. Rhonda joined the Library three years ago after an 18-year career as a newspaper journalist at The Blade, the daily newspaper in Toledo, OH. Before joining The Blade, Sewell worked for one year as a general assignment reporter at The Lansing State Journal, in Lansing, MI while completing her senior year at Michigan State University (MSU).

Sewell, a former participant of the Ann Arbor Jack and Jill of America, Incorporated Cotillion, is a 1984 graduate of Ann Arbor Pioneer High School, and received her B.A. in Journalism from Michigan State University in 1989. Before joining the Library, Rhonda served as a Features Journalist for The Blade. She was hired at age 21 after attending the City University of London (Michigan State University Overseas Study Program) where she took graduate courses in international journalism. Shortly after joining The Blade in 1988, she was requested to represent the company as an international correspondent and was sent to England, Italy, France, Belgium, Switzerland, and The Netherlands. Sewell also served for a decade as The Blade’s Fashion Writer and frequently traveled to New York to cover major fashion events, awards ceremonies, and conduct designer interviews.

During her Blade career, Sewell also served as a part-time instructor at Bowling Green State University, where she taught a course titled, “Ethnic Groups and Mass Media,” and served as a talk show host on Toledo’s PBS station, WGTE Channel 30. Sewell also frequently served as a co-host on “The Editors,” The Blade’s political and community TV talk show, and as an emcee for many Blade events.

Sewell is active in numerous community organizations, and in 2008 was a recipient of her community’s Rabbi Morton Goldberg Community Service Award, presented by the City of Toledo’s Board of Community Relations. Sewell serves on the Board of Directors of The Independent Collegian Media Foundation at the University of Toledo; the local Children’s Defense Fund-affiliate Freedom School – Center of Hope, and MADD Poets Society. She has formerly served on the Board of Directors of the YWCA of Greater Toledo; The Toledo Ballet; The Art Tatum African American Resource Center, and The American Heart Association of Greater Toledo. Sewell is a member of the Toledo Press Club; a charter member of the Northwest Ohio Black Media Association (an NABJ affiliate); The Toledo- Public Relations Society of America, Inc.; The Toledo Chapter of The Links, Inc.; The Toledo Chapter of Jack and Jill of America, Inc., and the Zeta Alpha Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Rhonda is a multiple award-winner of the Ohio Newspaper Women’s Association; the National Association of Black Journalists, and she received a Media Achievement Award from the Northwest Ohio Black Media Association in 2007. Sewell was recently nominated for the 2008 Jack and Jill of America, Inc. “Distinguished Mother of the Year” award by the members of the Toledo Chapter of Jack and Jill of America, Inc.

Sewell resides in Toledo with her twin daughters, Sarah and Savannah, age 8, who attend Little Flower Catholic School. She is currently at work on three books and accompanying Web sites: “The Soul of Twins: A Celebration and History,” a photo essay book celebrating the beauty of black twins; “Exoticize,” a photo essay book exploring the most controversial balls of the Harlem Renaissance, and a children’s book titled, “Fly Girl!: The True Story of Willa B. Brown, America’s First Black Female Licensed Pilot.” The late Brown is Sewell’s maternal cousin. Sewell is also at work on a Web site to promote her paternal cousin, the late journalist Ethel L. Payne, one of the first black women to cover the White House press corp and the first black woman employed by a major TV network (CBS) to host a program. Payne is often referred to in history books as “The First Lady of the Black Press” and is featured on a U.S. postage stamp.