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Kendra Majors is a former introverted journalist.

Now the editor and designer of four weekly newspapers and magazine, Majors will sometimes think back on the days before she grew her thick skin.

“I’ve always kind of had that chip on my shoulder, mainly because I’m a woman in this workforce,” Majors said. “You look across newspapers and there aren’t that many female leaders.

“I think to accomplish what’s been accomplished, you have to take on this persona that you’re not going to take crap from anyone. You’re just going to do your job and do it well, and you’re not going to let criticism hurt your feelings.”

Majors has been a leading force at Boone Newspapers, Inc. since her graduation from Troy University, although it wasn’t the career she had initially set her heart on.

“I initially had gone around several different ideas from being a social worker to being a radiology technologist, but neither one of those were me,” Majors said. “I chose journalism and the rest is kind of history.”

At Troy University, Majors was the co-editor of The Tropolitan. 

Now, she’s the regional editor of Greenville Newspapers, LLC., and The Demopolis Times.

“I guess my focus has changed from just wanting to be a writer to loving pagination, layout and design,” Majors said. “When I first wanted to be a journalist, I wanted to be the journalist who was in the middle of the war because at the time, we had just gone back to war with Iraq.

“We were also heavily in the midst of being in Afghanistan. Life happened and I fell in love with community newspapers. I’ve tried to get out a couple of times, but I think it’s my destiny.”

It took a few years into the business before Majors became the confident journalist that she is today.

“I had a huge turning point in not being scared anymore when I went from my job in Andalusia to being the managing editor in Luverne and Lowndes,” Majors said. “I was the only person in the building and had no one to back me up, so I had to learn to be strong.”

Although it’s been almost two decades since Majors began her journey in journalism, there are still those moments when she has to remind herself not to let certain people get to her.

“You think about the society that we live in where there’s a million and one keyboard warriors who would never say that to your face,” Majors concluded. “You can easily get sidetracked and get your feelings hurt, but you can’t do that in this career.”