What is it that makes Kansas Citian Ebony Reed so poised and polished? Coming from a family of communicators, she says. The bestselling author and seasoned journalist credits a lifetime of observing her family in action and engaging with those around her for her effortless charm and unwavering confidence.
“My uncle was a longtime radio host and executive for the largest urban radio chain in the U.S.,” Reed says. “I’ve been surrounded by communicators in my family my whole life, and I speak like them.”
Reed, a graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism, grew up in Detroit. After living in various locales, she moved to Kansas City in 2020 to be with her partner, Terez Paylor, a former Kansas City Star sports reporter. Paylor passed away unexpectedly in 2021 at age 37.
It hasn’t taken long for Reed, who is the chief strategy officer for The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization covering the criminal justice system, to become entrenched in the KC community. She is on the board of United WE, a nonprofit devoted to advancing women’s economic and civic leadership. Among many other community endeavors, Reed has partnered with the publisher of PowerMizzou Gabe DeArmond, who created a scholarship program at Mizzou’s journalism school. The scholarship now honors Paylor, and together DeArmond and Reed raise money for scholarships that will help students graduate and follow in Paylor’s footsteps.
But of Reed’s many accomplishments, her latest project, the book Fifteen Cents on the Dollar: How Americans Made the Black-White Wealth Gap, which she co-authored with Louise Story, a former Wall Street Journal mast head editor, is one she feels might have the most impact. Reed met Story, who lives on the East Coast, while they both worked at the Journal, and they just clicked, Reed says, making working on this project together a no-brainer.
The bestselling book is a narrative history of Black wealth and the United States’ history of economic discrimination that has created a system where Black families earn on average 15 cents for every dollar earned by white families.
Here’s what Reed has to say about her book, her life and living in KC.
What do you want to accomplish most from this book? No. 1 goal is for [the term] “15 cents on the dollar” to be a nationally recognized statistic. Because if more people understand that statistic, then the more understanding we have about the affordability of childcare, student loan debt and home ownership within different communities. This can impact the decisions that are made about these issues. This book is not a political book. We do not take a stand. It’s a book of facts, data, history and peoples’ stories.
Tell us about the writing and research process. In the early book planning stages, Louise came to me and we sat at my kitchen table. We wrote the book proposal, the outline, here [in KC]. And then we went to the South reporting, conducting lots of interviews at different places around the country. Later, we created the book in a virtual writing room. Still later, we changed our strategy, realizing it was going to take forever to get done. We played musical chairs, with Louise doing most of the writing. I was the chief follow-up person, conducting the interviews. About 400 interviews were conducted for the book. This is what worked best for our schedules. It’s a strong testament to our partnership. We’re very flexible.
Tell us something unique about this book project. Louise is a white American and I am a Black American, and we have come together for this project. This book project has helped us reach different audiences who are curious about us.
And most importantly, what’s your favorite part about Kansas City? I love our mix of bigger city services, restaurants, arts and entertainment while we are also a short distance from the peaceful prairie lands. I love the people, our kindness and neighborly ways that say “this is Kansas City.”
