The The Secret Secret is to Just Keep Going
Terri D. Sanders inherits a newspaper and a legacy
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he Omaha Star has never missed a publication. Every week since July 9, 1938 – and now bi-weekly – through social change and the ebb and flow of the community it calls home, the paper has gone to press. Terri D. Sanders is here to make sure it stays that way.
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The Omaha Star is one of the oldest Black Newspapers in Nebraska. It is considered an African American community newspaper. Owned by the nonprofit organization, the Mildred D. Brown Memorial Study Center, the business activities of the paper are overseen by a predominantly African American-led board. Terri is the newest editor and publisher of the Omaha Star, which was founded by the late journalist and civil rights leader, Mildred D. Brown. The fifth consecutive African American woman in the role, Terri took over in 2020, but her perseverance and
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dedication to her community began long before this moment. She was born in Omaha and grew up helping at her parents’ beauty supply business. “I learned to count money. I learned to stock shelves. I learned to do all of those entrepreneurial things,” she said. “I didn’t watch cartoons on Saturday mornings when I was little. I worked.” After high school, Terri attended Creighton University, where she majored in journalism. But finding a journalism job wasn’t next on her agenda. She just wanted to move somewhere warm. An on-campus interview led to a job in New Orleans. “I was an insurance underwriter, which wasn’t very stimulating,” she joked. “But I got to live in an amazing place.” The Air Force eventually took Terri and her husband, Daniel, to South Dakota, Alaska, and Missouri before they returned to Omaha. Back at home, Terri drew on the sewing skills learned
