Since we launched in 2015, CalMatters has carved out a leadership role at the center of the media ecosystem in California, establishing ourselves as a trusted brand and “go-to” hub for in-depth news and information on statewide issues. Our work has led to changes in policy, new legislation, investigations and discussions at the Capitol, in political groups and beyond — and created an awareness of important issues that aren’t getting covered anywhere else.
Our team has been recognized and honored with top state, regional and national awards from ONA, the Society of Environmental Journalists, the National Press Club, the Public Media Journalists Association, the Institute for Nonprofit News, the Edward R. Murrow Award, SPJ NorCal, Best of the West and California News Publishers.
Mohamed Al Elew
Journalism Engineer
Mohamed Al Elew is a journalism engineer, where they use data and software to produce investigative reporting. Before joining CalMatters and The Markup, Mohamed was a data reporter at Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting, where they investigated disparities in pandemic aid lending, oil drilling near schools and daycares, and violence at abortions clinics. They were a Livingston Awards co-finalist for the Banking on Inequity series.
They studied computer science at the University of California, San Diego, where they were a research scholar at the Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute and served as editor-in-chief of The Triton, the school’s independent student newsroom. More by Mohamed Al Elew
Anna Almendrala
Audience Engagement Manager
Anna Almendrala is audience engagement manager at CalMatters. Previously she has worked in content engagement and curation, was a health care reporter at Kaiser Health News, and a health and lifestyle reporter at HuffPost, where she created and hosted a podcast about infertility and alternative family building. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, NPR, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle and other outlets. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley.
Denise Amos
California Voices Deputy Editor
Denise Smith Amos is the California Voices Deputy Editor. Before joining CalMatters she was the editor of the watchdog and accountability team at the Union-Tribune in San Diego. She has been a reporter, columnist and editor at newspapers in Orlando, Tampa Bay, Detroit, St. Louis, Cincinnati and Jacksonville. Denise is a Philadelphia native who earned her B.A. in journalism at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. More by Denise Amos
Adam Ashton
Deputy Editor
Adam Ashton is a deputy editor supervising CalMatters’ coverage of health care, mental health and criminal justice. Adam previously led the local news staff as assistant managing editor at The Sacramento Bee, prioritizing coverage of homelessness, public safety, education and underserved communities. He has worked as a reporter and editor in West Coast newsrooms since 2004, including assignments covering local government in the San Joaquin Valley for The Modesto Bee and Merced Sun-Star, as well as covering the military and veterans in western Washington for The News Tribune of Tacoma. Adam reported from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq on several assignments for the McClatchy Washington Bureau. More by Adam Ashton
Yousef Baig
California Voices Editor
Yousef Baig is the California Voices Editor for CalMatters, managing the nation’s first-ever opinion section offered by a state-level nonprofit newsroom. Yousef was previously the Assistant Opinion Editor at The Sacramento Bee where he authored award-winning editorials and columns covering a mix of state and local issues. He spent the prior six years working for newspapers in the Bay Area, covering local news, features or sports at The Press Democrat, Petaluma Argus-Courier and Napa Valley Register, exploring California communities up close. He is a Poynter fellow, Asian American Journalists Association member and studied journalism and sociology at the University of Georgia. More by Yousef Baig
Rachel Becker
Water Reporter
Rachel Becker is a journalist reporting on California’s complex water challenges and water policy issues for CalMatters. Rachel has a background in biology, with master’s degrees in both immunology and science journalism. She previously reported on climate change and air pollution for CalMatters, and contributed to early coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well. Before joining CalMatters, Rachel was a staff reporter at The Verge, and her byline has also appeared in outlets including National Geographic News, Smithsonian, Slate, Nature and the YouTube series MinuteEarth. More by Rachel Becker
Deborah Brennan
San Diego and Inland Empire Issues
Deborah Sullivan Brennan is the San Diego reporter for CalMatters, covering regional stories from a statewide angle. She writes about life, politics, the economy and environment in San Diego County. She covers topics ranging from border pollution to elections to higher education.
Throughout her career, Deborah has covered government, environment and education for newspapers throughout Southern California. More by Deborah Brennan
Jennifer Burger
College Journalism Network Editor
Jennifer Burger is the editor of the College Journalism Network, a fellowship program at CalMatters for student journalists throughout the state. She guides students through the process of reporting on how state policy impacts college affordability, civil rights, student support, workforce development, and other key issues. For 10 years, she advised student media and taught journalism courses at Cal State Bakersfield, including government and data reporting, features writing and multimedia. There, she received the Outstanding Lecturer award and led the student news organization, The Runner. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Sacramento State University and a master’s in journalism from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. More by Jennifer Burger
Malena Carollo
Business Reporter
Malena Carollo investigates broken systems and wrongdoing.
Her most recent investigation found that a sweeping change to an algorithm deciding who gets a life-saving liver transplant hurt patients in several poorer, more rural states in the South and Midwest. Other states, however, benefited significantly—including several whose transplant leaders orchestrated the change behind the scenes. The investigation was copublished with The Washington Post.
Her previous work prompted an investigation by the Florida Attorney General’s office into an auto lender’s predatory practices, highlighted a state-sanctioned loan program saddling homeowners with significant debt, and showed that Florida’s largest power company was among the deadliest for customers. Her work was the basis for an episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.
Malena mentors other journalists through the Investigative Reporters & Editors program with Journalism Mentors.
She earned her master’s degree at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where she studied investigative and data reporting and practical digital security. When she isn’t working, she enjoys hiking. She is based in North Carolina. More by Malena Carollo
Andrew Chan
Digital Democracy Engineer
Andrew Chan is a Digital Democracy Engineer at CalMatters. He believes in the power of technology to democratize access to information and takes a people-first approach to building accessible, maintainable systems that empower users.
Andrew was a student researcher on the Digital Democracy project while studying computer science at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He also completed a minor in Gender, Race, Culture, Science, and Technology through its STS program. As a Sacramento native, he is proud to support CalMatters’ mission to help Californians engage with their state government.
Neil Chase
Chief Executive Officer
Neil Chase is the Chief Executive Officer of CalMatters. He was formerly Executive Editor at The Mercury News and the East Bay Times and has worked as a journalist at the San Francisco Examiner, Arizona Republic, CBS MarketWatch and The New York Times. More by Neil Chase
Evelyn Chavez
Events Producer
Evelyn helps build CalMatters’ editorial events program, including Sacramento Sessions, CalMatters Live and the Ideas Festival. Originally from Salinas, Evelyn now lives in Sacramento after moving here to study International Relations at Sacramento State. Before working for CalMatters, Evelyn helped manage and produce all special events at Sutter Health Park.
Other languages spoken: Spanish (fluent), French (intermediate)
Ben Christopher
Housing Reporter
Ben Christopher covers housing policy for CalMatters. His favorite reporting assignment so far: Touring the various two- and three-story structures that have sprouted up across San Diego under the regulatory guise of “accessory dwelling units” thanks to that city’s one-of-a-kind program. Prior to taking over the housing beat in the spring of 2023, Ben wrote about elections and politics for CalMatters, covering four election cycles, including the 2021 gubernatorial recall campaign. Ben has a past life as an aspiring beancounter: He has worked as a summer associate at the Congressional Budget Office and has a Master’s in Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley. He lives in Oakland where he enjoys riding his bike, baking (and then eating) pies and working on his repertoire of dad jokes. More by Ben Christopher
John Osborn D'Agostino
Data and Interactives Editor
John Osborn D’Agostino is the Data and Interactives Editor at CalMatters. He’s passionate about experimenting with different ways to tell digital stories. In particular, John enjoys telling stories with game mechanics: he spearheaded “Gimme Props”, an interactive that allows users to explore how they may want to vote on certain ballot measures, designed and developed a game that allows prospective students to explore the complexities of financing college, and allowed users to explore how they would spend California’s record surplus in 2022. Previously, John worked with The Hechinger Report, EdSource, the East Bay Express, Berkeleyside, and the North Coast Journal. He graduated from Cal Poly Humboldt and UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. More by John Osborn D’Agostino
John D'Anna
Managing Editor
Before coming to CalMatters, John spent four years as managing editor and senior news director at The Press Democrat in Santa Rosa, helping lead the paper to more than a half dozen national journalism awards for projects on death with dignity, wildfire resilience and government corruption. Before moving to California, he spent 27 years as an editor and reporter at The Arizona Republic in Phoenix, where he oversaw the print production of the paper’s 2018 Pulitzer-prize winning series on the border wall. He was a key member of teams that covered the attempted assassination of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson and the Yarnell Hill fire that killed 19 wildland firefighters. Both efforts were Pulitzer finalists for breaking news.
As a reporter he solved the 80-year-old mystery of Arizona’s Hatbox Baby, unmasked a culture of racism and white supremacy in one of Arizona’s most popular tourist destinations and received national investigative reporting honors for exposing the selective prosecution of a young African-American man who was later able to have his record expunged.
John is a graduate of the University of Arizona School of Journalism and serves on its alumni advisory council. He also holds an MBA from Benedictine University.
He is a fifth degree black belt and three-time world champion in Taekwondo and plays ice hockey, but not very well.
Nihon-go-o sukoshi hansemasu
Hablo un poco de español
Sto imparando l’italiano More by John D’Anna
Andrew Donohue
Investigative Editor
Andrew Donohue is the investigative editor at CalMatters. Previously, he served as executive editor of projects at Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting, where he helped lead digital, audio and video projects that forced major change, including Rape on the Night Shift, Amazon: Behind the Smiles, All Work. No Pay. and Reveal’s immigration reporting. He worked on teams that were twice named Pulitzer Prize finalists and won Investigative Reporters and Editors, Edward R. Murrow and Online News Association awards, among others. Before that he was the editor of Voice of San Diego, a pioneering local news nonprofit.
Other languages spoken: Spanish (fluent)
Nigel Duara
Justice Reporter
Nigel Duara joined CalMatters in 2020 as a Los Angeles-based reporter covering poverty and inequality issues for our California Divide collaboration. Previously, he served as a national and climate correspondent on the HBO show VICE News Tonight. Before that, he was the border correspondent at the Los Angeles Times based in Phoenix, deployed to stories across the country. He is a longtime contributor to Portland Monthly magazine and graduated from the University of Missouri School of Journalism.
Other languages spoken: Spanish (intermediate); Mandarin (beginner) More by Nigel Duara
Adam Echelman
Higher Education/Workforce Reporter
Adam Echelman covers higher education for CalMatters, focusing on California’s 116 community colleges and how they influence the state’s future. He works in partnership with Open Campus, a nonprofit newsroom focused on strengthening higher education coverage in local communities. In his reporting, students drive every story. He’s traveled across the state, from Mojave to the upper north, examining why colleges rely on incarcerated students and later, why rural LGBTQ students don’t feel safe on campuses. Before joining CalMatters, he worked as an equity reporter at the Modesto Bee, where his coverage of environmental injustice received a California News Publishers Association award. Adam has extensive experience as an education leader. For five years, he served as the executive director of Libraries Without Borders, a nonprofit organization that helps expand access to information. He’s a graduate of Yale University and is fluent in Spanish and French. More by Adam Echelman
Trevor Eischen
Product Manager
Trevor Eischen is a product manager at CalMatters. He previously worked in Washington, D.C., as the social media editor at POLITICO, where he strategized digital promotion efforts during the tumultuous 2016 election and the first year of the Trump administration. He started in the POLITICO newsroom as a web producer in 2013. A graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism, Eischen is originally from Sleepy Hollow, Illinois, where every Halloween a person dressed up as the Headless Horseman rides around a giant bonfire. In his spare time, he enjoys going on impromptu road trips, seeing the nation’s statehouses and being a Luxembourger.
Ali Frances
Operations Manager
Ali Frances is the Operations Manager for CalMatters and The Markup, supporting business operations, finance, and administration. Her background is in nonprofit tech, with a particular emphasis on startup operations.
Wendy Fry
California Divide Reporter
Wendy Fry is an Emmy-winning multimedia investigative journalist who reports on poverty and inequality for the California Divide team. Based in San Diego and Mexico, Wendy has been covering the California border region for more than 15 years and covers immigration, reparations and issues affecting San Diego-area families. She’s a board member of the San Diego chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and has reported for the Watchdog team at the San Diego Union-Tribune from 2009 to 2012. For television, she worked as an on-air reporter, investigative producer and assignment editor at NBC San Diego from 2013 to 2018 — where she helped launch an investigative team and Telemundo20, the Spanish language news station — before returning to print journalism, covering Mexico and Baja California for the Union-Tribune and the Los Angeles Times from 2018 to 2022. A graduate of San Diego State, Wendy speaks English and Spanish. More by Wendy Fry
Joe Garcia
California Local News Fellow
Joe Garcia launched his unexpected journalism career as a reporter for the San Quentin News. Since then, his distinct writing style has appeared in The Sacramento Bee, The Washington Post, Alta Journal and the New Yorker, among others.
A proud native Californian returning home to Los Angeles, Joe looks forward to this extraordinary new chapter of his life — covering stories, sparking community narratives, and elevating public discourse as a UC Berkeley Local News Fellow for CalMatters. More by Joe Garcia
Thomas Gerrity
Engineering Manager
Thomas Gerrity is a data scientist and product manager for DigitalDemocracy. Before joining CalMatters, he was employed as a software engineer by the Institute for the Advancement of Technology and Public Policy (IATPP) at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Since 2018, he has worked with Cal Poly faculty members and students in developing automated systems for surfacing news from legislative data. Born and raised on the central coast of California, Thomas has a Masters in Computer Science from Cal Poly. When not coding, he enjoys hiking, biking, and repairing industrial refrigeration systems.
Kristen Go
Editor in Chief
Kristen Go is the Editor in Chief of CalMatters. She previously worked as the executive editor and vice president of news at USA TODAY, managing editor of digital at the San Francisco Chronicle and has worked at The Arizona Republic and The Denver Post. She grew up in California’s central valley and lives in the Bay Area. She is a graduate of the University of Nevada, Reno.
Miguel Gutierrez Jr.
Visuals Editor
Miguel Gutierrez is the Visuals Editor at CalMatters. Previously Miguel was The Texas Tribune’s photographer and photo editor, where he raised the bar for telling visually rich stories about government and politics. An Illinois native who is fluent in Spanish, Miguel previously worked in New York as a multimedia producer for the state attorney general’s office. He has two master’s degrees from the University of Texas at Austin in journalism and Latin American studies and a bachelor’s degree in Latin American and Latino studies from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He has also worked as a multimedia producer at KUT Radio, Austin’s NPR station, and was a video production fellow at Brave New Films in Los Angeles.
Other languages spoken: Spanish (fluent), Brazilian Portuguese (intermediate), Italian (intermediate)
Mary Franklin Harvin
Director of Audio Strategy
Mary Franklin Harvin is CalMatters’ Director of Audio Strategy. She came to CalMatters from KQED-FM in San Francisco, where she was a producer and reporter for the statewide morning news show, The California Report. She’s also had stints with NPR’s The Kitchen Sisters and KALW-FM. Before finding radio, she worked as a writer for former president Bill Clinton out of the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation’s Harlem office. She’s a South Carolina native and earned her graduate degree from the University of South Carolina’s School of Journalism and Mass Communications.
Adriana Heldiz
Assistant Visuals Editor
Adriana Heldiz is the assistant visuals editor at CalMatters. Her expertise includes photojournalism, video journalism, graphic design and motion graphics. She’s passionate about visual storytelling that helps inform underserved communities and promotes civic engagement. Prior to joining CalMatters, Adriana worked at The San Diego Union-Tribune and Voice of San Diego. She is based in San Diego and was born and raised in Chula Vista. Adriana is an alumni of San Diego State University and Southwestern College, and is proud to be a first-generation Mexican-American. More by Adriana Heldiz
Lauren Hepler
Investigative Reporter
Lauren Hepler is an investigative reporter at CalMatters focused on labor issues and California’s housing crisis. She has spent the past decade covering housing, labor and climate issues for the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Guardian, the LA Times and others. Lauren has also worked as a fixer, a translator and a researcher for the BBC, Der Spiegel and on the book “Golden Gates: Fighting for Housing in America.” Her work has won awards from the Sacramento Press Club, the California News Publishers Association and others. She grew up in Ohio, graduated from George Washington University and the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and is based in Los Angeles.
Other languages spoken: Spanish (fluent) More by Lauren Hepler
Miles Hilton
Full Stack Engineer
Miles is a full stack software developer, writer, and visual artist based in Western New York. They believe that code can be a powerful and flexible tool for justice and equity, and are glad to be at CalMatters and The Markup, using code to hold those who misuse it to account.
After earning a degree in Computer Science from Columbia University, Miles worked at education technology startups in the New York City area, expanding the reach and accessibility of computer science education by stressing the creative potentials of code. They then worked at CNN on the CNN+ news streaming service, creating Interview Club. This live interview platform put the mic in user’s hands, allowing them to steer conversations with subject-matter experts. They have volunteered as a programmer with U.S. Digital Response, creating a grant-finding platform for NGOs and local governments, and are an active member of the Out in Tech professional community, where they volunteer as a technical mentor and as a programmer, creating websites for international LGBTQ+ groups. More by Miles Hilton
Gabriel Hongsdusit
Visual Designer
Gabriel Hongsdusit is the visual designer at CalMatters and The Markup. Previously, he was the design and visuals editor at Reveal, where he was responsible for the overall design and visual direction of the newsroom, which included illustrations, editorial design, product design, photo editing, and data graphics. Before that, he was the design apprentice for the Institute for Nonprofit News.
Gabe graduated from UCLA with a bachelor’s degree in linguistics and Mandarin Chinese. He is based in the San Francisco Bay Area. More by Gabriel Hongsdusit
Kristen Hwang
Health Reporter
Kristen Hwang is a health reporter for CalMatters covering health care access, abortion and reproductive health, workforce issues, drug costs and emerging public health matters. Prior to joining CalMatters, Kristen earned a master’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in public health from UC Berkeley, where she researched water quality in the Central Valley. She has previously worked as a beat reporter for The Desert Sun and a stringer for the New York Times California COVID-19 team. More by Kristen Hwang
Ana B. Ibarra
Health Reporter
Ana B. Ibarra covers health care for CalMatters. Her reporting largely focuses on issues around access to care and affordability. She joined CalMatters in 2020 after four years at Kaiser Health News. She started her reporting career at McClatchy’s Merced Sun-Star. Her work has also appeared in The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today and other state and national news outlets. More by Ana B. Ibarra
Ramsey Isler
Director of Special Projects
Ramsey Isler is director of special projects at CalMatters and The Markup. He focuses on strategy and tactics for optimizing the delivery of the newsroom’s work, including its service journalism, investigative projects, and innovative tools.
His work in the tech industry has spanned a wide array of products including apps, hardware, and websites. Before joining The Markup, he worked at the Wikimedia Foundation and led product management for two multimillion-dollar grant-funded projects on Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons.
Ramsey is also a science fiction author and recently completed his eighth novel.
Khari Johnson
Technology Reporter
Khari Johnson is part of the tech team and is CalMatters’ first tech reporter. He has covered artificial intelligence for nearly a decade and previously worked at WIRED, VentureBeat, and Imperial Beach Patch. He is currently a practitioner fellow at the Karsh Institute’s Digital Technology and Democracy Lab at the University of Virginia, guest speaker at the Pulitzer Center, and sits on the Society of Professional Journalists Board of Directors. He was born and raised in San Diego, and graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in journalism and minor in political science. He lives in Oakland. More by Khari Johnson
Carolyn Jones
K-12 Education Reporter
Carolyn Jones covers K-12 education at CalMatters. A longtime news reporter, she’s covered education for nearly a decade, focusing on everything from special education to state funding policies to inequities in student achievement. In 2023, she spent five weeks in Albania as a Fulbright Specialist working on media literacy and promoting a free press. Previously, she worked at EdSource, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Oakland Tribune, covering government, breaking news, the environment and other beats. Jones attended public schools in California, where she got her start in journalism at the San Rafael High Red & White, and graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in English. A longtime Oakland resident, she has two children and a Siberian husky. More by Carolyn Jones
Marisa Kendall
Homelessness Reporter
Marisa Kendall covers California’s homelessness crisis for CalMatters. With more than six years of experience navigating this complex topic, Marisa has won multiple awards for her sensitive, comprehensive coverage. Before joining CalMatters, Marisa covered housing and homelessness for the Bay Area News Group (including The Mercury News and East Bay Times), where she was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the deadly Ghost Ship warehouse fire in Oakland. Prior to that, she covered high-stakes court cases in Silicon Valley for The Recorder. Marisa started her career covering crime and mayhem in Southwest Florida for The News-Press. A Bay Area native, Marisa lives in West Oakland. She’s a graduate of American University, and enjoys swimming, biking and reading novels when she’s not out on assignment.
Other languages spoken: Spanish (Intermediate) More by Marisa Kendall
Jeremia Kimelman
Data Reporter
Jeremia is a data journalist who uses code and data to make policy and politicians easier to understand. He was previously a graphics editor at the COVID Tracking Project and a data journalist at NBC News covering elections and national politics. He grew up in California and is excited to be back home after an extended time as a New Yorker. When he isn’t on the computer you can find him out in the garden or on a bicycle. More by Jeremia Kimelman
Jeanne Kuang
Capitol Reporter
Jeanne Kuang is an accountability reporter who covers labor, politics and California’s state government. Previously, she wrote about homelessness and economic inequality as part of CalMatters’ California Divide team. Her reporting for a series examining long waits and low payouts for workers who claim they are victims of wage theft was honored with awards from the Society of Professional Journalists Northern California chapter and the Best of the West. Jeanne came home to California to join CalMatters in 2022. Prior to that, she covered politics in Missouri for The Kansas City Star. She was also a city hall reporter for The News Journal in Delaware, and before that she wrote about criminal justice issues for Injustice Watch in Chicago. Jeanne grew up in the San Gabriel Valley, graduated from Northwestern University and is now based in Sacramento with her cat, Potato.
Other languages spoken: Mandarin (fluent) More by Jeanne Kuang
Lynn La
Newsletter Writer
Lynn La is the newsletter writer for CalMatters, focusing on California’s top political, policy and Capitol stories every weekday. She produces and curates WhatMatters, CalMatters’ flagship daily newsletter with more than 150,000 subscribers. Prior to joining CalMatters in March 2023, she wrote for the education technology startup Guild and was a senior editor at CNET. She also covered public health at The Sacramento Bee as a Kaiser media fellow and was an intern reporter at Capitol Weekly. Lynn is based in the Bay Area. She graduated from UC Davis and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
Other languages spoken: Vietnamese (basic) More by Lynn La
Nadia Lathan
Politics Reporter
Nadia Lathan covers politics with a focus on San Diego for CalMatters in partnership with Voice of San Diego.
Previously, Lathan covered Texas state government and politics for The Associated Press as a Report for America corps member. She traversed the state, from Uvalde to Houston, to report on Texas national news, including the 2024 elections, deadly Fourth of July floods and Republican-led sprint to gerrymander its congressional maps.
Before that, she was a features intern at The Mercury News and worked at UC Berkeley’s Investigative Reporting Program. Lathan also served as the editor-in-chief of her undergraduate newspaper, The Redlands Bulldog.
She is a proud Southern California native and alum of the University of California, Berkeley, where she earned her master’s degree in journalism. More by Nadia Lathan
Alejandro Lazo
Climate Reporter
Alejandro Lazo writes about the impacts of climate change and air pollution and California’s policies to tackle them. He’s written about the state’s groundbreaking electric vehicle mandate, the oil industry’s efforts at capturing carbon from fossil fuels, and how California’s climate programs have created a robust cow poop industry. Alejandro is particularly interested in how the most vulnerable in society are faring in the midst of rapid global warming. Alejandro joined CalMatters after an eight-year stint as a California-based national reporter for The Wall Street Journal, a four-year run as the housing reporter for The Los Angeles Times and two years as a business reporter at The Washington Post. He is a native Californian, originally from the San Joaquin Valley.
Other languages spoken: Spanish (fluent) More by Alejandro Lazo
Colin Lecher
Investigative Reporter
Colin Lecher is a reporter based in New York. His work on technology and society has received honors from the Association of Health Care Journalists, the Deadline Club, the Radio Television Digital News Association, and more.
Before joining CalMatters and The Markup, he was a senior reporter with The Verge. There, he reported on issues like automated cuts to healthcare, access to phone services in prisons, and the online gun market. More by Colin Lecher
David Lesher
Senior Editor
Co-Founder David Lesher is a veteran California journalist and state policy expert. He co-founded CalMatters in 2015 and led the organization as Editor/CEO until December 2018, when he continued to serve as Editor-in-Chief until May 2023. Previously, he was Director of Government Affairs at the Public Policy Institute of California, a non-partisan think tank focused on state policy issues. Lesher has more than 25 years of journalism experience, largely at the Los Angeles Times where he was a political writer, state Capitol reporter and assistant national editor for the White House campaign. He also has served as Editor of California Journal magazine and as California Director for the New America Foundation. More by David Lesher
Halona Leung
Director of Operations
Halona Leung oversees the business and people operations at CalMatters. She has experience in research grant administration, business operations, budget management, and communications from her prior work at UC Davis. She brings a commitment to the principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging within the workplace and in interactions with our greater community. Halona has a bachelor’s in psychology from the University of California, Davis.
Robert Lewis
Investigative Reporter
Robert Lewis focuses on investigations and accountability reporting. Before joining CalMatters he worked at print and public radio outlets across the country including WNYC-New York Public Radio, Newsday and The Sacramento Bee. His investigative reporting has garnered some of the industry’s highest honors including a George Polk Award, an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award and Sigma Delta Chi Awards. More by Robert Lewis
Zeke Lihosit
Ad & Sponsorship Sales Manager
Zeke focuses on increasing philanthropic support for our work. Before joining CalMatters, he worked in a similar role at California Rangeland Trust. Previously, his career has been in development at University of San Diego and University of Arizona, as well as in SaaS sales at Classy.org. Zeke’s first language was Spanish and he is fluent. He is a graduate of Northern Arizona University and earned his master’s degree in history at University of San Diego.
Other languages spoken: Spanish (Intermediate)
Kate Looby
Chief Development Officer
Kate puts her passion for democracy to work by cultivating the support that enables our work. She came to CalMatters from a similar role at the Center for Investigative Reporting – Reveal, and before that she spent a decade in development work at the Sierra Club. She previously led Planned Parenthood in her native South Dakota and was a candidate there for secretary of state. When she’s not working with donors and funders, you’ll find Kate creating meals to enjoy with family and friends, reading, working out, or playing with her two standard poodles.
Andrew Losowsky
Director of Product / Product Editor
Andrew Losowsky is the Director of Product / Product Editor at CalMatters and The Markup.
Previously, he was Head of Community Product at Vox Media and the founding lead of The Coral Project, a collaboration between Mozilla, New York Times and The Washington Post.
He has also been a Senior Editor at The Huffington Post, a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University, a visiting fellow at the Information Society Project at Yale University and the Editorial Director of a European newsletter company based in Barcelona. He started his career in London as a magazine journalist and has edited several books on editorial design.
Michael Lozano
Youth Journalism Initiative Manager
Michael Lozano leads CalMatters’ Youth Journalism Initiative amping California’s journalism education-to-industry pipeline. He has lead youth journalism programs since 2012, mentoring diverse youth to land their stories in major media. He also reports on immigration, elections, and community health for CalMatters, New America Media, the Long Beach Post, Los Angeles Public Press and more. He is based in Long Beach.
Other languages spoken: Spanish.
You can learn more about the Youth Journalism Initiative at www.calmatters.org/youthjournalism. More by Michael Lozano
Byrhonda Lyons
Investigative Reporter
Byrhonda Lyons is a national award-winning investigative reporter for CalMatters. She writes and produces compelling stories about California’s court and criminal system. Her reporting has uncovered how California bounces around mentally ill prisoners, the lack of diversity among local judges, and how state police ignored a Ninth Circuit opinion and continued an asset forfeiture procedure towing people’s vehicle for 30-day tows.
Byrhonda’s work aims to hold politicians accountable and educate Californians about the ins and outs of their state government. Her work has appeared on the PBS NewsHour and in local newspapers throughout California. She won a National Headliner Award for her work during the 2018 elections. She has also received multiple awards from the California News Publishers Association (CNPA) and was a finalist for an Online News Publishers Award.
Before joining CalMatters, Byrhonda was a freelance video producer and worked as a digital media specialist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service. She was also an editor for the San Quentin News, a prisoner-run newspaper in California.
Byrhonda is a graduate of UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism and Arkansas’ oldest historically Black college, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. When she is not working, you can catch her at an art gallery and searching archives for trailblazing women who have been left out of history books. More by Byrhonda Lyons
Bryndon Madison
Development Manager
Bryndon works to increase fundraising and support of the journalism produced by CalMatters. He has a background in journalism, political campaigning, and nonprofit development, having served most recently with Northern Valley Catholic Social Service. He has a BA in Sociology from the University of California Santa Barbara.
Myra Marayag
Development Director
Myra Marayag works with the Development team to cultivate current and new donor relationships. Previously, she worked as head of Partnerships and Public Affairs at LA Times and has extensive experience working with Fortune 500 companies across many facets of partnership marketing — including philanthropic development, community engagement, revenue growth, event sponsorship, influencer marketing, media sales and media buying. She has held leadership positions across media organizations (CBS, LA Times), influencer networks (Defy Media) and advertising agencies (TeamOne/Publicis Groupe, Beyond Interactive/Grey Advertising).
Other languages spoken: Tagalog (conversational)
Aidan McGloin
Inland Empire Newsletter Writer
Aidan McGloin writes the Inland Empire newsletter for CalMatters. He worked for four years at the Inland Empire start-up Follow Our Courts, where he covered court cases. In 2025, he opened his own publication, Inland Empire Law Weekly. When not covering the news, he reads it, and when he doesn’t read the news, he reads books. He enjoys watching the sunset at a baseball diamond, getting spares at the bowling alley and trying out multiple sports. He has been a resident of Redlands his entire life, with the exception of his education at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. More by Aidan McGloin
Matt McVickar
Full-Stack Engineer
Matt McVickar is a full-stack engineer at CalMatters and The Markup. Matt comes to CalMatters from a career in client and agency work, with nearly two decades in website and software designing, consultation, and development for clients like Sesame Workshop, MIT Technology Review, Flaming Hydra, Tricycle Magazine, and PBS NewsHour. He believes that software should be beneficial, accessible, and sustainable. He is based in Portland, Oregon.
Robert Meeks
Director of Video Strategy
Robert Meeks is the Director of Video Strategy at CalMatters and the lead producer of “SoCalMatters,” a weekday regional series collaboration between CalMatters and PBS SoCal, Southern California’s flagship PBS organization.
Before joining CalMatters, Robert previously served as the Senior Director of Video covering news, business and politics for the Los Angeles Times, where he had been instrumental in some of the paper’s biggest stories, including Pulitzer Prize-winning breaking news video coverage of the San Bernardino shooting. Robert also assisted in the making of the L.A. Times’ podcast sensation “Dirty John.”
A native Angeleno, Robert is a graduate of Long Beach State and an adjunct professor at USC’s Annenberg School of Journalism. He makes it to Sunday dinner at his parents’ house in Los Angeles every weekend.
Cayla Mihalovich
California Local News Fellow
Cayla Mihalovich is a justice reporter for CalMatters. She is a California Local News fellow and a graduate of the UC Berkeley School of Journalism, where she studied investigative reporting and audio storytelling. She has covered reparations, aging and incarceration for outlets including KQED, The Oaklandside, Oakland North, and others. More by Cayla Mihalovich
Maya C. Miller
Politics Reporter
Maya C. Miller covers politics and government accountability for CalMatters, with one eye on the state Legislature and the other on California’s congressional delegation in Washington, D.C. She will help lead CalMatters’ coverage of campaigns, voters and elections in the run-up to the 2026 midterms.
Maya came to CalMatters in June 2025 by way of the New York Times, where she covered Congress as the David E. Rosenbaum fellow in Washington, D.C. She hit the 2024 campaign trail and delivered deeply reported stories from five different states across the country. From Nebraska, a deep red state, Maya introduced readers to an independent candidate –– a mechanic with no political experience –– who nearly unseated Republican Senator Deb Fischer after riding a populist wave. And in Maine, she showed readers how Representative Jared Golden, a three-term Democrat, persuaded Trump voters in his in his conservative-leaning district to split their tickets.
From the halls of the Capitol, Maya reported on how constituents overwhelmed the Congressional phone system shortly after President Donald J. Trump’s inauguration as outraged Democrats and energized Republicans tried to get the ear of their elected officials. She covered House Republicans’ herculean effort to pass Trump’s ambitious domestic policy agenda and also explained how the G.O.P. ‘s unprecedented repeal of California’s Clean Air Act waivers threatened to blow another hole in the filibuster.
Prior to the New York Times, Maya reported for The Sacramento Bee, where she resurrected the dormant state worker beat, reported closely on contract negotiations and pioneered a newsletter that informed more than 250,000 civil servants in California. She has also reported for The Seattle Times, the Minnesota Star Tribune and the Des Moines Register.
Maya graduated from Duke University with a degree in public policy. She grew up in Des Moines and credits the Iowa caucuses with sparking her love for journalism and current events.
Languages spoken: Spanish (conversational) More by Maya C. Miller
Eric Norman
Development Director
Eric Norman brings nearly two decades of fundraising experience, most recently at the San Francisco Waldorf School, to his role of working with CalMatters’ most generous supporters in Northern California. Throughout his career he has demonstrated a deep and ongoing commitment to advancing social and racial justice. Eric was born and raised in Indiana and made his way to California as part of his military service. Eric enjoys road trips up and down the coast, diving into a good book, collecting political memorabilia, gathering with friends for dinner, and playing tourist around his beloved hometown of San Francisco. More by Eric Norman
Soo Oh
Deputy Managing Editor
Soo Oh is a deputy managing editor at CalMatters and The Markup. Prior to that, she was the data editor at Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting. She has reported stories, analyzed data, coded interactive visuals, and built internal tools at the Center for Investigative Reporting, The Wall Street Journal, Vox.com, the Los Angeles Times, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. In 2018, she was a John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford University, where she researched how to better manage and support journalists with technical skills.
Sergio Olmos
Investigative Reporter
Sergio is an investigative reporter for CalMatters. He previously worked as a freelance reporter for The New York Times, NPR, Oregon Public Broadcasting and The Guardian, among others, reporting from here in the U.S. and the war in Ukraine. He also created the Dying for a Fight podcast series for OPB, which led to the arrest and successful prosecution of the killer of a well-known Portland activist.
Other languages spoken: Spanish (fluent) More by Sergio Olmos
Molly Peterson
Environment and Health Editor
Molly Peterson is the environment and health editor at CalMatters, based in Los Angeles. Over more than two decades she has worked for nonprofit news, including the California Newsroom, NPR and its local public media outlets, and Public Health Watch. Most recently, she has investigated the intersection of health with climate change, specifically wildfires, wildfire smoke, and extreme heat. She served as editorial project manager for the California Reporting Project, now the Police Records Access Project, collaborating on and editing stories about police misconduct investigations.
Prior to that, her work focused on water policy, air pollution, hazardous waste and environmental justice. She has won national and local Edward R. Murrow Awards, SPJ’s Sigma Delta Chi Award for Excellence in Journalism, and she was an IRE Award finalist for an investigation after Hurricane Katrina.
Molly is also an inactive lawyer, having passed the state bar; she has a degree from University of California College of the Law in San Francisco, and her undergraduate work was at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service. Her grandfather, Raymond L. Sullivan, was on the California Supreme Court.
Other languages: French (advanced); Spanish (conversational); Mandarin (beginner) More by Molly Peterson
Hans Poschman
Transcription Manager
Hans Poschman is the Transcription Manager for a new CalMatters project and is based in San Luis Obispo. He has previously worked for the state legislature and in state and local government. He has a Masters in Public Policy and a Bachelors in Political Science from Cal Poly.
Richard Procter
Deputy Editor
Richard Procter is an editor at CalMatters in charge of housing, homelessness, technology and economy coverage. Prior to joining CalMatters he was the editor-in-chief of SF Weekly and an editor at the San Francisco Business Times. His work has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Magazine, Forbes, and Polygon. He has won several awards for his journalism, both as a reporter and editor. He is a graduate of UC Davis and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. More by Richard Procter
Sonya Quick
Director of Membership
Sonya builds bridges between the community and CalMatters as director of membership. Previously, she led engagement, membership, marketing, digital storytelling and product at Voice of OC, a nonprofit news agency in Orange County, Calif. She has worked as an adjunct professor of digital journalism at Chapman University and mobile app development at Saddleback University. She worked for a decade at the Orange County Register as an editor, product manager and reporter across mobile, social media, web and mobile app development, disaster coverage, infographics, technology and community news. She has been awarded for her work on infographics, news website design, news article design and social media engagement in reporting. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Cal State Long Beach where she led the student newspaper in transitioning to an independent model, and she has practiced journalism since starting a newspaper in the fourth grade. More by Sonya Quick
Alexis Ramirez
Digital Democracy Engineer
Alexis Ramirez is a Digital Democracy Engineer for CalMatters. He enjoys working on software solutions that provide a lasting, positive impact in people’s lives. He was born in Texas and raised on the central coast of California. He is a graduate of Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo with a degree in Software Engineering.
Alejandra Reyes-Velarde
California Divide / Environmental Justice Reporter
Alejandra Reyes-Velarde is an environmental equity reporter from Los Angeles. Previously, Reyes-Velarde was a California Divide reporter for CalMatters specializing in social mobility, labor issues, immigration and more. She began her career at the Los Angeles Times, where she produced award-winning work on major news events and marginalized communities. She was part of an award-winning team covering Southern California fires and the Borderline bar shooting in 2018. She also was the CCNMA Ruben Salazar Award recipient for a series about the pandemic’s impact on Latino communities.
Reyes-Velarde is a Los Angeles native born to Mexican immigrant parents. She earned her bachelor’s degree from UCLA and a master’s in legal studies from UCLA School of Law. She is fluent in English and Spanish. More by Alejandra Reyes-Velarde
Angel Rodriguez
Regional Editor
Angel Rodriguez is the Regional Editor for Southern California. Before joining CalMatters, Angel was the Managing Editor at the Houston Landing, helping to lead a newsroom of over 30 journalists in his home town.
Angel spent nine years at the Los Angeles Times in a number of roles. From 2015-2020 he served as Sports Editor and from 2020-2021 he was an Assistant Managing Editor for the Digital Desk.
In 2023, Angel became the General Manager for Latino Initiatives, launching the De Los project for English-language Latinos and leading LA Times en Español.
Prior to joining the Times, he spent one year as Deputy Editor for Mobile Innovation at the Washington Post. Angel spent over a decade at Gannett as Home Page Manager at the Arizona Republic and Sports Editor at the Cincinnati Enquirer. Angel was part of the staff that was a Pulitzer finalist for the coverage of the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
He has also worked at ESPN.com and MLB.com. Angel was born in Chicago but raised in Houston and is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and is a proud Longhorn. More by Angel Rodriguez
Alex Rosenblat
Director of Sociotechnical Research
Alex Rosenbat is the Director of Sociotechnical Research at CalMatters and The Markup, where she studies dark patterns, privacy and product design in U.S. healthcare. Rosenblat is a blend of researcher and writer, exploring the social and cultural impacts of technology through ethnography. She is the author of Uberland: How Algorithms Are Rewriting the Rules of Work, and her writing has appeared in media outlets including The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, and The Globe and Mail. Her prize-winning academic research has been published in scholarly and professional publications including the International Journal of Communication and the Columbia Law Review.
Anat Rubin
Investigative Reporter
Anat Rubin is an investigative reporter for CalMatters. Her reporting on the criminal justice system has been published by ProPublica and The Marshall Project. She is based in Los Angeles. More by Anat Rubin
Ryan Sabalow
Digital Democracy Reporter
Ryan Sabalow is a Digital Democracy reporter for CalMatters. A graduate of Chico State University, he began his career covering local news for the Auburn Journal in Placer County and The Record Searchlight in Redding. He spent three years in the Midwest at The Indianapolis Star where he was an investigative reporter. Before joining CalMatters, he primarily covered California water and environmental policy at The Sacramento Bee. A lifelong hunter and outdoorsman, Sabalow spends as much time as possible in Siskiyou County, where he grew up. He’s married and has two daughters, two lunatic cats and a duck-retrieving chocolate lab named Spooner. More by Ryan Sabalow
Levi Sumagaysay
Economy Reporter
Levi Sumagaysay covers the California economy for CalMatters with an eye on accountability and equity. She reports on the insurance market, taxes and anything that affects the state’s residents, labor force and economy. Before joining CalMaters, Levi was a tech and business reporter and editor. She has written and edited stories about the rise of the dot-coms, the booms and busts of Silicon Valley and technology’s effects on everything, including the news media. Levi, a longtime Bay Area resident, is a graduate of the San Francisco State journalism department. Her stories at MarketWatch on the tech economy and about janitors at Facebook won awards from the San Francisco Press Club; her tech news stories and commentary at the Mercury News won awards from Editor & Publisher and the Peninsula Press Club; she has received two National Press Foundation fellowships; and was a Dow Jones Newspaper Fund editing intern.
Other languages spoken: Tagalog (fluent) More by Levi Sumagaysay
Ryan Tate
Deputy Editor
Ryan Tate has been writing and editing technology stories for more than 15 years. He was previously at The Intercept, where as deputy and technology editor he led lengthy investigations into companies like Facebook, Google, and TikTok and into surveillance by the National Security Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and authorities in the Chinese region of Xinjiang.
Before that, he wrote about the use and abuse of corporate power in the tech sector at Wired and Gawker.
Natasha Uzcátegui-Liggett
Statistical Journalist
Natasha Uzcátegui-Liggett is a Statistical Journalist at CalMatters and The Markup. She is passionate about empowering communities with the data they need to drive positive change; her projects focus on wielding statistics to help expose injustice and guide policies to address inequality.
Before joining CalMatters and The Markup, Natasha was a Data Scientist at the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research where her analyses worked to reduce global food insecurity and help subsistence farmers adapt to climate change. Some of her other statistical investigations have uncovered bias in U.S. public health initiatives and revealed the failure of government programs to mitigate deforestation. Natasha studied Statistics and Data Science at Yale University. More by Natasha Uzcátegui-Liggett
Larry Valenzuela
Photographer
Larry is based in Kerman, in California’s Central Valley. A passion for documentary filmmaking led him into videography and photography on campus publications at Fresno City College and Fresno State University. He went on to become a writer and photojournalist for the Fresno Bee and joined CalMatters in 2022 as a CatchLight Local Fellow. More by Larry Valenzuela
Dan Walters
Opinion Columnist
Dan Walters is one of most decorated and widely syndicated columnists in California history, authoring a column four times a week that offers his view and analysis of the state’s political, economic, social and demographic trends. He began covering California politics in 1975, just as Jerry Brown began his first stint as governor, and began writing his column in 1981, first for the Sacramento Union for three years, then for The Sacramento Bee for 33 years and now for CalMatters since 2017. Dan is also the author or co-author of two books about California, “The New California: Facing the 21st Century” and “The Third House: Lobbyists, Money and Power in Sacramento.” He is a frequent radio show guest and occasionally appears on national television, commenting on California issues. Walters began his career in 1960 at the Humboldt Times in Eureka, California, a month before his 17th birthday, first as a newsroom aide and later as a police beat reporter. Having found his calling, he not only turned down a National Merit college scholarship but dropped out of high school, lacking one required class – ironically civics – to qualify for a diploma. Before moving to Sacramento to cover politics, he was the managing editor of three small daily newspapers. He has two adult daughters and three grandsons. More by Dan Walters
Sisi Wei
Chief Impact Officer
Sisi is the Chief Impact Officer at CalMatters and was formerly Editor-in-Chief for The Markup.
Before joining CalMatters and The Markup, she was co-executive director of OpenNews, where she envisioned and executed transformative initiatives for journalism. As part of her work, Sisi founded the DEI Coalition, a journalism community dedicated to sharing knowledge and taking concrete action in service of a more anti-racist, equitable, and just journalism industry.
She was assistant managing editor at ProPublica from 2018 to 2020, where she oversaw three editorial teams focused on news apps, interactive storytelling, and visual investigations. She also managed large, interdisciplinary investigations across the newsroom, one of which won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 2020.
In 2021, IWFM awarded Sisi the Gwen Ifill Award, which recognizes an outstanding woman journalist of color whose work carries forward Gwen’s legacy, especially by serving as a role model and mentor for young journalists. In 2019, Sisi and her fellow Journalists of Color Slack admin team won the ONA Community Award, which recognizes a person or small team in online journalism that has made outsized contributions to creating tools or work environments that allow digital journalists to do their best work.
Sisi also serves on the board of News Revenue Hub.
Jocelyn Wiener
Health Reporter
Jocelyn Wiener is a projects reporter with a focus on mental health and health care who explores the intersection between government policies and people’s lives. Her work has won numerous regional and national awards. Her reporting about the breakdown of the state’s mental health system for CalMatters was honored with a National Headliner Award. She has worked as a reporter in her native California for more than two decades. After graduating from Stanford University, she received a Fulbright Scholarship to do research in El Salvador. She spent the next year and a half working with children and teenagers on the Salvadoran streets, which inspired her decision to pursue a career in journalism. She earned a master’s degree at Columbia University’s School of Journalism and spent several years as a staff writer covering poverty for The Sacramento Bee. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, the Christian Science Monitor, Kaiser Health News and other regional and national publications.
Other languages spoken: Spanish (conversational) More by Jocelyn Wiener
Juliet Williams
Politics Editor
Juliet Williams is an award-winning editor and storyteller with over two decades of experience as a reporter and editor directing breaking news, investigative reporting and opinion content. Juliet served in numerous roles during a 22-year career with The Associated Press, including Northern California news editor based in San Francisco and editor in the California capitol bureau, where she chronicled the administrations of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jerry Brown.
Juliet’s areas of expertise span politics, transportation, education, environmental policy and healthcare. She loves coordinating data-driven projects with compelling storytelling.
She has a degree in journalism from the University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia and a degree in politics and English from the University of Alberta in Edmonton.
Juliet lives in San Francisco with her husband.
Erica Yee
Data Reporter
Erica Yee is a data reporter who collaborates frequently with the health, education, inequality and environment teams. She joined CalMatters as an intern in 2020 and then stuck around as part of the growing Data and Interactives team. Sometimes her days look like meticulously poring over spreadsheets. Other times they consist of designing and coding engaging graphics and tools to help Californians better understand their home and their neighbors. She was part of CalMatters teams who won awards for a drought and water tracker, wage theft series and multimedia project on high schooler experiences of COVID-19 inequality. Erica earned a degree in journalism and information science from Northeastern University. As a student, she interned at the San Francisco Chronicle, CNBC and Boston.com. She is based in Oakland. More by Erica Yee
Yue Stella Yu
Politics and Campaign Reporter
Yue Stella Yu covers politics for CalMatters, with a particular focus on campaigns, elections and voters. She will be a lead reporter covering the November election, including the U.S. Senate race, congressional contests and key statewide issues. Before joining CalMatters, Stella covered state and local politics in Michigan, Tennessee and Mississippi while dabbling in investigative stories. In 2023, her reporting revealed the highly unregulated housing conditions for Michigan dairy farm workers and the lack of state actions to protect workers. She won first place in investigative reporting in press association contests in Tennessee, Mississippi and Missouri. She graduated from the University of Missouri with a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri in 2019. She is based in Sacramento.
Other languages spoken: Mandarin (fluent) and Korean (conversational) More by Yue Stella Yu
Denise Zapata
Deputy Editor
Denise Zapata is a Deputy Editor at CalMatters, leading our coverage of K-12 schools and higher education. She is a veteran journalist who has spent most of her career covering California’s education issues, first as a reporter and then as an editor for several teams that included at least one education reporter. Before joining CalMatters, she was senior editor at EdSource. Prior to that, as associate editor for The Center for Investigative Reporting, Denise was part of one team that won a George Polk Award and another that was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. She began her journalism career at The Bakersfield Californian, where she reported on several topics, including higher education. She later became an assistant city editor, then city editor at the paper. After that she became an assistant metro editor at the San Diego Union-Tribune, overseeing regional teams in north, east and south San Diego County. Denise is a Bay Area native and a graduate of Santa Clara University. More by Denise Zapata
Mikhail Zinshteyn
Higher Education Reporter
Mikhail Zinshteyn reports on higher education for CalMatters. His coverage tackles state legislation, financial aid, labor issues, student demands, campus housing and college affordability. His work on examining why the California State University system struggles to graduate its Black students was a finalist for the Sacramento Press Club Awards in 2023. Before joining CalMatters, Mikhail worked as a reporter at EdSource and freelanced for Inside Higher Ed, The Hechinger Report, The 74 and The Atlantic, among other outlets. He also worked as a program manager for the Education Writers Association. He’s been covering higher education as his primary beat since 2015. His path into professional journalism began with unpaid internships that he subsidized with evening and weekend shifts at restaurants. Mikhail earned a bachelor’s from Union College and a master’s from the London School of Economics. Scholarships, work-study, Pell grants and loans funded his education. He was born in the Soviet Union and is fluent in Russian. More by Mikhail Zinshteyn