Dr. Frances “Toni” Draper

Dr. Frances Murphy Draper (Toni) is the chairman of the board and publisher of the Baltimore-based AFRO-American Newspapers (afro.com) — a publication founded by her great grandfather in 1892. In 2021, the Local Media Association (LMA) named her “Content and Audience Innovator of the Year” and in 2022 the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) named her “Publisher of the Year.” She is a graduate of several universities including Morgan State University and the Johns Hopkins University.