Shirley Carswell is executive director of the Dow Jones News Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting careers in journalism. Under her leadership, the News Fund has broadened its college internship program and expanded its training focus to include early career journalists. Carswell spent 25 years as an editor and senior manager at The Washington Post. She worked as a copy editor, metro copy desk chief and assistant managing editor. She was the first Black woman to serve as deputy managing editor, a masthead position at the newspaper. Before joining the News Fund, she was an adjunct professor at Howard University, teaching journalism fundamentals, copy editing and fact-checking. Early in her career, she worked for daily newspapers in Richmond, Virginia, Detroit and Pontiac, Michigan. Carswell, who holds a journalism degree from Howard University, serves on the board of Inside Climate News.