Philadelphia native Donna Ladd knows all about Mississippi's brain drain. She could not wait to get out of her home state as soon as she graduated from Mississippi State University. She built a career as journalist with a reputation for grappling with uncomfortable truths. In 2001, she returned to Mississippi to cover the state's first referendum on its flag and found a way should could come home again: by pushing Mississippi towards its true potential through investigative reporting. She is now the co-owner of the Jackson Free Press.