Shea Drake joins Daily Review staff

Shea Drake has joined The Daily Review staff as the paper’s education reporter.
Drake has seen first-hand what it takes to succeed in the classroom. A native of Nashville, Tennessee, Drake has been a teacher of middle-school-age students in Tennessee, Arkansas and Maryland. She has more than a decade of classroom teaching experience, plus a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Grambling State and a master of education in education leadership from Travecca Nazerene in Nashville.
In addition, Drake has a master of divinity degree from Howard University and is pursuing a master’s in media communications through Webster University in St. Louis.
Despite her work in education, Drake’s goal has been to be a reporter.
“I enjoy storytelling,” she said. “It was really just a childhood dream. It was just a matter of finding a way to make it happen.
“I always relayed messages in my classes by telling a story so I could make it plain to my students.”
Managing Editor Bill Decker said the paper is happy to have an education reporter with classroom teaching experience.
“So many issues in local journalism revolve around the local schoolhouse,” Decker said. “We think our readers will benefit from having someone who has seen school systems work from the inside.”
Drake ran her own community access TV show in Nashville and worked as an intern for the Los Angeles Sentinel, writing stories about religious events. She most recently worked with the St. Bernard Voice and Plaquemines Gazette.