Secretary
Regina Brown Wilson is a media entrepreneur and committed advocate for African American-owned news outlets across California.
Her support for Black-owned publishers is centered on increasing their participation in the state’s media economy. A vocal champion of independent and local journalism, Wilson is also an important co-convener — in partnership with Ethnic Media Services — of Black, Latino, Asian, Pacific Islander and Native American owned news publishers in California.
Since 2012, Wilson has served as Executive Director of California Black Media (CBM), a non-profit started by her father, Hardy Brown, publisher emeritus of the Black Voice News in Riverside. CBM is a network of over 30 print, digital, radio and streaming news organizations serving African American communities across the state.
At California Black Media, she has executed several public information campaigns focused on a range of issues from the COVID-19 pandemic to voter awareness and emergency preparedness. The organization has also syndicated thousands of news articles about California State policy, politics, and governmental affairs to CBM partner publishers, expanding the offering of news stories they provide their audiences and allowing them to focus resources on local news coverage.
During the pandemic, CBM led a multi-million-dollar public service information campaign with a network of 35 Black churches across California to promote a COVID-19 testing program.
In 2021, CBM partnered with California’s Secretary of State to increase participation in the gubernatorial recall election, breaking convention by including a diverse spectrum of media outlets serving all demographics of people across the state.
Wilson has held numerous official and advisory roles in state government. Previously, she led engagement of underrepresented minority groups at the State Board of Education and served in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Office of Planning and Research as Statewide Education & Community Outreach manager.
As an advocate for independent, local and Black news outlets, Wilson was appointed a commissioner for the 2020 Census Complete Count Committee and helped secure an historic investment of over $50 million with a significant inclusion of those funds for ethnic media.
Previously, Wilson led efforts to ensure African American media outlets participated in the marketing campaign for California Community Colleges, state-funded Opioid treatment centers, and Covered California, the Golden State’s official health exchange marketplace.
In 2019, Wilson oversaw the creation of resource guide sponsored by the California Community Reinvestment Grant Program for Latino and Black Media. The guide provided information on re-entry and rehabilitation resources for families in Alameda and San Francisco counties impacted by the war on drugs.
Wilson is a member of the African American Empowerment Council of California, Sacramento NAACP, and serves as a member of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Minority Owned Small Business Task Force under the Government Operations Agency.