Kelly Roche

BA (Windsor)

Kelly Roche is a digital storyteller, educator and activator. She has worked at five startups since 2004 and created an innovative hyperlocal news site in Canada’s sixth-largest city: Mississauga, Ont.

Kelly came to King’s after teaching all things ‘online’-related in the journalism program at Humber College in Toronto, where she was the first instructor to use Instagram and TikTok in the classroom.

She later oversaw internships, developing industry partnerships with independent media outlets owned by racialized journalists and maintaining existing relationships with legacy media.

Kelly was also hired as a consultant, leading anti-racism initiatives and working closely with the deans in the Faculty of Media & Creative Arts to bolster equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging. In 2020 she conceptualized, planned and live-produced an eight-hour virtual symposium, Racism in the Newsroom: The Unapologetic Reckoning in #CdnMedia, with a team of domestic and international students. In addition, she co-created a mandatory two-part course, Reporting for Diverse Communities.

Kelly’s advocacy for all journalism students led to significant – and immediate – policy changes.

Her freelance work has appeared in the Toronto Star, CBC and Toronto Life. Kelly’s daily news background includes reporting and videography at CTV News and Sun Media; her sports experience includes Raptors NBA TV.