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Profile: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Business Columnist – Tannette Johnson-Elie

I was honored to be asked to write the feature article on Tannette Johnson-Elie. She has an amazing and inspiring story and I enjoyed telling it.

Writing the piece actually made me pretty darn nervous. You see, it’s one thing to write a feature on a successful business person who would be honored no matter what, it’s entirely different to write one on a successful journalist who is going to pass the story around to all of her journalist buddies. Journalists who I have and hope to continue to working with in my capacity in branding and public relations. If the story was a stinker, that would impact my reputation and possibly offend a great journalist.

Merging Paper and New Media – Tannette Johnson-Elie
By: Al Krueger

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel business columnist Tannette Johnson-Elie emerges from the elevator and greets me with a smile and a firm handshake in the Journal Communications lobby. We ride the elevator to her floor and walk through the newsroom. She stops a few times to introduce me to her boss and others. Each exchange is short, but similar in a way that I can’t quite put my finger on.

Then I see it in the eyes of the woman behind the counter in the cafeteria – every person we’ve encountered truly respects her in a way that can only be earned through hard work, perseverance, kindness and giving respect.

Johnson-Elie’s story is on one hand about recent transformation that has helped her create relevancy in today’s social media world. On the other hand, it’s about an African-American woman who has found longevity and success in an industry stereotypically dominated by white men in a town that hasn’t always been open-minded.

Johnson-Elie has reinvented herself over the past year by expanding from being a minority-focused business columnist to also cover networking, connections and social media. This shift has helped her tell new stories and connect with a new community in Milwaukee – the creative and innovative class – that has given her renewed enthusiasm and dedication to her work.

The daughter of blue-collar, working-class parents, Johnson-Elie grew up in the Hyde Park area of Chicago, near the University of Chicago, and came of age during a post-civil rights period when people of all types were exceptionally proud of their work and who they were. The older generations in the neighborhood wanted so much for the youth – they were passionate about helping her and others find success and opportunities.

“It was a great place and a great time to grow up. There were people from all over the world who lived nearby, all kinds of people from all walks of life,” Johnson-Elie said. “I was never told that dreams weren’t possible, and my mother prayed that I would be able to walk through doors that she couldn’t.”

When Johnson-Elie arrived in Milwaukee in 1989 to work as a general assignment reporter for the Milwaukee Sentinel, which she noted, “was a great way to learn Milwaukee,” she was entering a new chapter in her career. After stints in public radio, at a small weekly and then a mid-sized daily newspaper near Chicago, she had been ready for a change when her mentor enlightened her about opportunities in Milwaukee.

After pounding the general assignment beat for a year, she was assigned to the federal beat, which was a very big opportunity for her and a noted change for the paper. It was the first time that an African-American woman covered a beat of that level of significance at the Milwaukee Sentinel, and it showed Johnson-Elie that the paper had great confidence in her.

To this day, she points to this period as a defining time in her career. “There was a lot of hard work, a lot of sleepless nights, a lot of constant pressure – huge pressure,” she said. “But, it was a good pressure and it made me stay on my A-game, and it helped me basically launch my career.”

When asked about why she is a journalist, Johnson-Elie smiled and said, “Writing has always been my first love. I’ve always loved to tell stories and my mom really encouraged and motivated me to follow my interests.”

Johnson-Elie then shared some insight that is applicable to any job and any company. “The key to surviving and succeeding is to find your niche and make it your own.” She also noted that she had to be smart, clever and respectable, and also figure out nontraditional ways to make connections that could help her get ahead of the competition.

After two years, Johnson-Elie was tired of the federal building and looked for a change and one developed, sort of. The Senior Business Editor for her paper approached her on two occasions to encourage her to apply to write for his section, but she did not pursue it either time. She was concerned she did not have the right business experience. “After talking to other business writers,” she said. “They helped me understand I did have a working knowledge of business issues, after covering bankruptcy extensively on the federal beat. It was just my lack of confidence that stood in the way.”

Johnson-Elie did then apply for, and get the job, in which she covered general business in her unique style and was able to add other coverage areas including, minority business. Since then, she was promoted to a columnist position when the Milwaukee Journal merged with the Milwaukee Sentinel and really made the niche her own for nearly 10 years. Over the last year, Johnson-Elie became a touch restless and looked for ways to expand her coverage and that led her to an opportunity to cover networking and how social media helps in getting business done in Milwaukee.

This new experience has opened up new possibilities and opportunities for Johnson-Elie. She has also been able to develop some “street-cred” by making sure she is an engaged user of these new tools, networks and communication channels.

It’s easy to see that Johnson-Elie is excited about her new focus and to be meeting new people whose paths she might have never crossed. Through her other coverage, she is proud to be giving a voice to people who might not have felt they had one.

Tags: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Milwaukee's Creative Class, Tannette Johnson-Elie