Hello, Daily Kos Community. I’ve heard you’re a vibrant group of voracious readers with informed opinions. I’m thrilled to join the ranks of some of the writers you enjoy reading.
My route to journalism was circuitous. I began in 2008 in San Diego as a blogger, covering local businesses and highlighting their innovative ideas for staying afloat during an economic tsunami. A local editor asked me if I’d like to be paid to write, and I was off to the races.
My first job was with the regional magazine. Then I moved to San Diego Union-Tribune, a newspaper owned by real estate magnate Doug Manchester, who knew less than nothing about running a media outlet.
I began pitching national outlets after leaving the paper. For a few years, my primary source of income was from Fox News Latino. I know, I know … But it was a silo site, nestled weirdly under FoxNews.com, and believe it or not, we focused our content on positive stories about people and projects in the Latino community. We never used the word “Illegal,” only “undocumented.” Not surprisingly, the site was closed within a week or so of Trump’s election.
One investigative story I wrote while Fox News Latino was still up and running was about the many undocumented immigrants living in Flint, Michigan, who were the last to know about the city’s contaminated water.
Over the last decade, I’ve been fortunate to have written for a number of outlets.
I wrote a story for VICE News about the man who donned the Barney costume for the children’s TV show, who afterward became a tantric sex practitioner—the most aggregated story in VICE history.
I profiled Black Lives Matter movement co-founder Patrisse Cullors for The Hollywood Reporter. That piece ran after video emerged of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery being shot to death while jogging in Georgia, and the heart-rending video of George Floyd, 46, being suffocated to death in broad daylight at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer went viral. Cullors called for defunding the police from the “well-funded army” that “occupies” them.
One month after the news about Harvey Weinstein’s sexual harassment charges came to light, I wrote a piece for Playboy about male survivors of sexual assault, highlighting the group 1in6, which offers a helpline to survivors with trained advocates.
One of the stories I’m most proud of was for Washington Post. It’s about a group of Black mothers who came together via Facebook to form Moms of Black Boys United (MOBB). The group is made up of nearly 200,000 women—white mothers, adoptive mothers, moms from outside the U.S., mothers of newborns, and some with incarcerated sons—who support one another and lobby lawmakers on legislation related to education, economic empowerment, and accountability and changes in policing when it comes to Black men and boys.
My last job was as managing editor of KNX 1070, a legacy radio news station in Los Angeles. While there, our team was presented (for the first time!) the Edward R. Murrow Award for Overall Excellence.
Again, I’m thrilled to be joining Daily Kos and looking forward to hearing from the Community with your thoughts and opinions.
