Jake Hylton

Jake Hylton is the Founding Executive Director of LOOKOUT News, the Southwest’s only nonprofit LGBTQ+ newsroom, where fearless local journalism and deep community roots combine to ensure LGBTQ+ people in the region are centered and represented on the local news stage.

His career path is winding: he started at age ten apprenticing in his mother’s restaurant consulting firm then wound through arts organizations, carpenter-ing on Sesame Street, technology startups, and real estate before landing somewhere that actually made sense. In three short years, he’s built a growing statewide newsroom with 30+ annual events, four newsletters, and an expansion into Colorado underway in 2026.

Jake serves on the boards of the Institute for Nonprofit News and The Bambi Fund, is a fellow with the Media Transformation Challenge, and is a graduate of CUNY’s Nonprofit News Business Certificate program. He brings an entrepreneur’s instincts and an organizer’s values to building a journalism organization that refuses to look away—and still believes the best ideas start in a kitchen.