Toni Randolph was a veteran award-winning journalist and a long-time news editor for Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) from 2003-2016.  Toni died unexpectedly in July of 2016 at the age of 53 after being hospitalized for a medical procedure.  

Toni’s collection of books was donated posthumously to ESFL in 2017 by her brother Marvin and her close friend Arleta Little.  They are organized around the histories and stories of African American people, especially women, from the time of enslavement to the present.  They include fiction and poetry, as well as historical studies.

In announcing Toni’s death, Meg Martin of MPR wrote that her “quiet, steady presence guided colleagues, young reporters and listeners to a deeper understanding of each other and of journalism.”

MPR News executive editor Nancy Cassutt wrote to the MPR staff that Toni “”was crucial in her work connecting us to new audiences around the state and training the next generation of young reporters.”

Toni was born in Buffalo, NY in 1962. After graduating from SUNY Buffalo State College in 1984, Toni got her Master’s Degree from the Columbia School of Journalism in 1988.  She went back to Buffalo where she began working as the news director at one of the public radio stations there.  After a few years she moved to Boston and became a news reporter for public radio station, WBUR , covering major stories like Massachusetts politics, airport security and the clergy sex abuse scandal.

In 2003 she was hired by MPR as a reporter, responsible for covering homelessness, immigration and politics.  Eventually she added newscasting, editing and hosting programs to her assignments. In 2010 she became the editor for new audiences, which was a position MPR created to connect with diverse Minnesotans.

Toni believed strongly that having diverse voices in the newsroom “should be part of the fabric of what we do.” She felt that when newsrooms truly reflected the communities they served they would reap more benefits than they could ever imagine.

She won several journalism fellowships which allowed her to travel to China and Liberia so she could better understand the global nature of Minnesota’s growing immigrant communities.

Toni was actively involved in the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) and its Twin Cities branch (TCBJ). After her death the NABJ wrote that Toni  “lived the values and mission of the national organization, including the importance of fairness in the workplace, expanding job opportunities in newsrooms, and consulting with high schools and colleges to identify and encourage black students to become journalists.”

This strong interest in young journalists meant that she worked closely with countless numbers of high school and college students through MPR News’ Young Reporters Series, which paired students of color with MPR staffers to produce broadcast stories.  She was also involved in MPR’s Generation Next training program and the University of St. Thomas’ ThreeSixty Journalism high school program. She became a board member of ThreeSixty Journalism in February of 2016 and at the time of her death, she was preparing for Generation Next’s young journalism classes.

In 2014, ThreeSixty awarded Toni the Widening the Circle Award, given each year to an individual who has made “extraordinary contributions to the next generation of journalists, particularly while promoting inclusion and diversity.”  Toni dedicated the award to her mother and said she didn’t feel like she was widening the circle but instead was completing it.

The Alliance for Women in Media awarded Toni’s Young Reporter Series its 2015 Gracie Award, which recognizes exemplary programming created by women, for women and about women in all facets of media and entertainment. The awards also acknowledge the individuals who have made inspirational contributions to the industry.