DC-based journalist and researcher
Thanks for stopping by! I’m a journalist and researcher currently working at CNN Politics as a breaking news editor.
I care deeply about people’s stories. In my previous role as the senior researcher on CNN’s story-vetting team, I worked with journalists seeking editorial approval for sensitive reporting across all platforms worldwide. In Georgia, I’ve written for the Georgia Recorder and the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities' magazine. My first story for the Recorder, enterprise reporting on Georgia’s struggling rental assistance program, was republished by Georgia Public Broadcasting and other outlets across the state. I’ve also worked as a researcher and fact-checker on longform non-fiction, including the award-winning book “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents.”
I'm not currently available for freelance assignments, but please reach out with any questions, observations or tips. I’m most interested in community-minded stories on politics, culture and public policy.
RESEARCH
REPORTING
WRITING
Fact-checking
COPY EDITING
Work I’m Proud of
April 11, 2022 — Atlanta Democratic state Sen. Donzella James is one of more than 110,000 Georgians hospitalized with COVID-19 since the pandemic claimed Georgia’s first reported death. She lowered her mask to speak during a senate committee hearing. (Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder)
Georgia rolls back precautions two years after COVID-19 shut down, leaving some vulnerable
Enterprise REPORTING FOR
GEORGIA RECORDER
[REPUBLISHED By GPB and outlets in COBB, Douglas, and albany. Featured in GPB’S bi-weekly “GA Today” Newsletter]
State Sen. Donzella James’ voice isn’t as strong as it used to be. In January 2021, James tested positive for COVID-19. She thought it was just her chronic bronchitis, but the next morning, she found herself in a crowded emergency room. After subsequent bouts of pneumonia and blood clots, she finally left the hospital in May.
James, an Atlanta Democrat, remains vigilant about COVID-19 today. “I saw people every day dying all around me,” she said. “I am concerned because I know far well what that COVID can do to you.”
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March 11, 2022 — Kerry Robinson is one of three Georgians currently seeking restitution for a wrongful conviction through an ad hoc legislative process that critics have long described as inefficient and inconsistent. (Photo courtesy of Georgia Innocence Project)
Bipartisan effort to reform Georgia’s wrongful conviction compensation process advances
Enterprise reporting for
Georgia recorder
[REPUBLISHED BY GPB and THE COBB CO. COURIER]
Two decades ago, Kerry Robinson was convicted for a 1993 rape in Moultrie after he was falsely implicated by one of the actual perpetrators and a state forensic analyst. Robinson, 46, spent nearly the next 18 years of his life in a Georgia prison until he was exonerated with DNA evidence in 2020.
Robinson is one of three Georgians currently seeking restitution for a wrongful conviction through an ad hoc legislative process that critics have long described as inefficient and inconsistent.
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Renter struggles remain as Georgia’s assistance program dodges federal funding claw back
Enterprise reporting for
Georgia recorder
[REPUBLISHED BY GPB AND OUTLETS IN COBB AND GWINNETT, featured in Axios Atlanta’s daily newsletter (Feb. 23)]
Janell Wise has lived in the same apartment since she moved to south Cobb County from Tennessee in 2014. Wise, 40, lives with her 13-year-old son in Mableton and works as a team leader at an Amazon facility near Fairburn.
Last August, she came down with COVID-19. After her son tested positive in September, she missed nearly two months of work.
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The State of Employment: Collaboration, Change and Solutions Amid COVID-19
Cover Story for
making a difference magazine
On June 16, 2020, Governor Brian Kemp announced Chris Wells as the new executive director of the Georgia Vocational Rehabilitation Agency (GVRA). The agency has been undergoing re-organization for the past five years, meaning it has been in a state of perpetual change.
Before Wells’ arrival, GVRA began a major reorganization after years of criticism. The agency, which serves as Georgia’s main employment services resource for people with disabilities, conducted an independent review that identified major problems, including a problematic internal culture, low case closure rate, too many managers and too few well-trained agents.
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Steve Lacy, Rex Orange County & Anti-Pop's Hip-Hop Adjacency
Music Feature/Opinion
[NOTE: I pitched this piece in 2017 after making a personal playlist including DIY pop, R&B and hip-hop. Shortly after the story published, Spotify began curating their own “Anti Pop” playlist, which now has MORE THAN 675,000 followers.]
The first half of “Boredom,” a standout from Tyler, The Creator’s Flower Boy, isn’t made up of the short, happy bars that dominate the rest of the album. Rather, the voice of a 19-year-old English artist demands your attention. Rex Orange County, featured twice on the album, has a fan in Tyler, and he belongs to a growing crowd of young, post-SoundCloud singer-songwriters.
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Georgia’s Role in the National Immigration Crisis
hard news package (Producer and editor)
“IT SEEMS THAT THEY ARE DESIGNED, IN PART, TO ENSURE THAT PEOPLE GIVE UP ON THEIR CLAIM... YOUR SPIRIT IS BROKEN IN A DETENTION CENTER.”
For a digital journalism course, I produced and edited this video package breaking down how Georgia’s immigration law and policy impacts communities in the state. Featuring conversations with Laura Diaz-Villaqueran, a Georgia State University student and Colombian immigrant; Carolina Antonini, an immigration attorney, adjunct law professor and the first Latina judge in Georgia; and Sutton Freedman, a 3L law student and president of the Immigration Law Society at Georgia State.
Thanks for reading!
