Aaron Foley

Aaron Foley is a Detroit native and journalism professional. He is also the author of the novel “Boys Come First.”

He is the senior editor of the Communities Initiative at the PBS NewsHour. Previously, he was the founding director of the Black Media Initiative at the CUNY Newmark Graduate School of Journalism; a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University in the class of 2020; the first appointed chief storyteller for the City of Detroit, where he oversaw a team that created digital content for a City-managed news site, and video programming for City cable; editor-in-chief of BLAC Detroit Magazine, a 35,000-circulation publication distributed throughout Metro Detroit; held staff positions at Ward's Automotive Reports and the Lansing State Journal; was a founding staffer of MLive Detroit; and was a frequent contributor to Jalopnik.

In 2015, Aaron wrote "How to Live in Detroit Without Being a Jackass," a social guidebook to living in Detroit. In 2017, he edited an anthology, "The Detroit Neighborhood Guidebook." His essays have been included in "Black in the Middle" (2020), "Voices From the Rust Belt" (2018), and "A Detroit Anthology" (2013).

A frequent speaker and panelist, Aaron has delivered talks in Melbourne, Australia; Turin, Italy; Austin's SXSW; Gainesville, FL's frank; New York City, Washington, D.C., Denver, Chicago, Milwaukee and more, as well as a well-received TED talk in his hometown of Detroit. He has guested on NPR's "All Things Considered," PBS' "NewsHour," APM's "Marketplace," WNYC's "On the Media," C-SPAN 2's "Book TV," the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's "News Breakfast," BBC's "Where the World's Moving" podcast and several more local, national and international TV and radio programs. [See a collected list of Aaron's talks and appearances here.] He has been recognized by Adweek, Wayne State University, the Michigan Chronicle, Detroit Young Professionals, Engaging Local Government Leaders and other organizations as a leader in his fields.

Aaron's freelance journalism has appeared in This American Life, CNN, The Atlantic, Columbia Journalism Review, Next City, Reuters, Foreign Policy, BuzzFeed and more. He has represented Detroit in videos for Thrillist and CNN Travel, has been interviewed and quoted in several publications worldwide, contributed research to the 2017 film "Detroit" and has appeared in documentaries and TV shows about Detroit.