Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.

That was the spirit I carried as a young Black journalist in San Francisco, searching for direction. And it was Belva Davis — the woman who became the first Black female television reporter on the West Coast — who showed me that growth in this field meant courage.

When I learned of Belva’s passing, I cried for two days. Every time I opened my phone, another tribute appeared — another announcement, another video. But one image cut through them all: Belva riding in a cage to the top of Sutro Tower as it neared completion, reporting for KPIX from 700 feet in the sky.

That was Belva. Fearless. Unshakable. Rising.

Belva Davis, on the set of KQED’s ‘This Week in Northern California.’ (KQED Archives)

How we met

I was working at 1300 on Fillmore

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