Felicia Mello

Based in Oakland, Felicia Mello covers the state’s economic divide, including such issues as affordable housing, labor rights and environmental and social justice. Her recent stories covered the impact of legal representation on eviction cases and unions’ quest to win unemployment benefits for striking workers.

Prior to joining the California Divide team in 2023, Felicia covered higher education for CalMatters and founded the CalMatters College Journalism Network, an Eppy Award-winning fellowship program that trains student journalists to cover education policy from the ground up.

She investigated California’s lax oversight of for-profit colleges and edited student-led projects on Title IX and campus policing. Her reporting earned awards from the national Education Writers Association, the California News Publishers Association and the Society for Professional Journalists Northern California. 

Born in the Bay Area, Felicia holds a master’s degree from UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism and has reported from locations as diverse as Las Vegas and Quito, Ecuador, contributing stories to The Washington Post, The Nation, NPR and CNN’s Parts Unknown, among others. Before coming to CalMatters, she served as digital editor for Las Vegas’ leading alternative weekly, and was Nevada reporter for the Center for Public Integrity’s nationwide investigation of state government transparency, and a regional editor for Patch.com.

Felicia’s work is informed by her family’s immigrant roots and her experience growing up in California’s public schools. She’s interested in how ordinary people survive and thrive in a state that is increasingly unaffordable but remains one of the best places in the world to live.

Languages spoken: English and Spanish (fluent); Italian, Portuguese, French (conversational)