Tess O’Brien Riley is a nonprofit Communications Manager + freelance journalist based in New Orleans.
Tess has worked in a variety of nonprofit settings telling the stories of impactful organizations and the people they serve, including her current role at Bastion, America’s first intentional community for veterans and their families. Her journalistic interests include profiling characters that embody the creativity, resilience, and underreported magic of New Orleans. Tess also hopes to cover issues like access to mental health services, reproductive justice, and LGBTQIA+ rights that affect young adults today.
Hey y’all!
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Tess’s work in journalism, nonprofit communications, and photography.
I live near historic Bayou St. John with my rescue dog, Miss Tuba, who embarks on many of my New Orleans adventures alongside me.
I’ve lived in New Orleans for a decade after initially moving south to attend Tulane University where I earned Bachelor’s degrees in English and Communications.
I am currently pursuing my Master’s degree in American Journalism from New York University while continuing
full-time PR, social media, and communications work.
As a New England transplant living in New Orleans, I have a profound reverence for the history and culture of this city. Everything you’ve ever heard about the intangible magic of New Orleans is true - it’s a place where food is its own love language, music flows from every street corner, and neighbors uplift neighbors in ways my Yankee origins still struggle to comprehend.
This city is also a representation of some of the worst racial health and wealth disparities in the county, shaped by long legacies of racism, exploitation, and now climate devastation and disaster gentrification. Through my profiles of resilient and innovative characters existing in modern New Orleans, I hope to showcase a small piece of New Orleans magic while embedding threads of larger systemic issues that have shaped the way that magic exists, issues that threaten the magic’s very existence. As I highlight just a few of the endless reasons to love New Orleans, I hope I can convince people far and wide of the urgent need to protect it.
