By cohort
2017 Cohort: Philadelpha 2018 Cohort: Houston 2019 Cohort: Atlanta 2021 Cohort: Virtual 2022 Cohort: Los Angeles 2023 Cohort: Washington, D.C. 2024 Cohort: Austin
USC part-time lecturer
Mallory Carra (she/her) is a freelance journalist, podcast producer, NBCU Academy contributing writer, and USC adjunct journalism professor with nearly 20 years of editorial experience. Previously, she worked at Bustle, E! News, Spotify and served as an editor/mentor for the 2023 VOICES program. She is also a 2023 ELP graduate.
The Marshall Project
Jovelle Tamayo (they/she) is a Seattle-based multimedia editor at The Marshall Project. Previously, she contributed photos to a variety of publications, from legacy news outlets to hyperlocal nonprofit newsrooms. They have worked to make the visual journalism industry more equitable as a founding member of the Authority Collective and a co-author of the Photo Bill of Rights. Jovelle is also an adjunct professor of visual journalism at the University of Washington and a youth media teaching artist.
Holistic life and career coach
Betty Ming Liu (she/her) is a holistic life & career specializing in inner child work, trauma recovery, diversity and the immigrant experience, and the Daoist approach to health and wellness. A veteran journalist and NYU professor, Betty is embedded at the university’s American Journalism Online, which is fully-remote j-school program. She also teaches undergraduate journalism and is a recipient of NYU’s Outstanding Teaching Award. Betty, who is a founding member of AAJA-NY and a former New York Daily News columnist, grew up in NYC’s Chinatown. In 2022, she relocated with her rescue pit bull to Los Angeles, where they live just minutes away from her daughter.
Newsroom Developer, Boston Globe
Kirkland An is a newsroom developer on the Boston Globe’s multimedia storytelling team, where he makes interactive, reader-facing graphics and apps, including scrollytelling experiences and news games. He worked at the Houston Chronicle as a data reporter and data visualization developer, at USA Today on their editorial page as a reporter and editor, and interned at the Chicago Tribune on their news design desk. He’s from New Jersey, and now lives in Houston with his wife, where they spend most of their free time trying out different restaurants.
News Reporter, NBC
Janhvi Bhojwani is an Emmy-award winning reporter for NBC News based in Washington, DC focusing on the social newsgathering and verification space. She is from the US territory of Guam and Jakarta, Indonesia. Janhvi completed her undergraduate and graduate degrees at Georgetown University, studying the intersection of culture and politics. In between college and graduate school, she conducted a field study in Indonesia through a Fulbright-Hays scholarship on social media and misinformation. Janhvi was part of the inaugural cohort of the Widening the Pipeline fellowship and one of 10 journalists selected for the Austrian American Media Fellowship in 2023.
Video Fellow, Los Angeles Times
Jireh Deng (they/them) is a queer Asian American writer and filmmaker born and raised in the San Gabriel Valley. Their work appears in The Guardian, The Washington Post, Teen Vogue, NPR, Literary Hub, The Huffington Post, The Human Rights Campaign and more. Their short documentary about a transgender Asian American elder, MIA’S MISSION, screened at a dozen festivals including the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. Currently, they are in a year-long fellowship at The Los Angeles Times. They co-founded the Asian American Journalists Association LGBTQIA+ affinity group. You can follow them on Instagram or on X at @bokchoy_baobei.
Senior Reporter/Weekend Manager, Social Newsgathering, NBC News
Ali Gostanian is an award-winning senior reporter with NBC News’ Social Newsgathering team, specializing in open source intelligence and social media verification. Focusing heavily on the team’s weekend coverage, Ali leads the team of reporters during breaking news coverage and in enterprise reporting. Ali is an instructor with NBCU Academy, serving as an expert on social newsgathering and digital verification. She is a 2023 graduate of AAJA’s Executive Leadership Program and has been accepted into the September 2024 cohort of Poynter’s Leadership Academy for Women in Media.
Assistant Metro Editor, Seattle Times
Jeong Park is an assistant metro editor, leading coverage of breaking news in the mornings, for The Seattle Times. Before that, he worked as a reporter at The Los Angeles Times covering Asian American communities, as well as at The Sacramento Bee where he covered state labor and economy. He also covered cities for The Orange County Register. Park is a UCLA graduate and an immigrant from South Korea, having come to the United States at the age of 11.
Government Accountability Reporter, Fresnoland
Omar Shaikh Rashad is a journalist based in Fresno, California. He is currently the government accountability reporter at Fresnoland, where he covers city and county government, along with health care and hospitals in the greater Fresno area. Rashad’s 2023 investigation into the City of Fresno’s budget process potentially violating California transparency law for five years triggered an ACLU lawsuit against elected city officials, which is still ongoing. He is a proud community college and California State University graduate and completed past reporting stints at The Seattle Times, San Francisco Chronicle and CalMatters.
Journalist, KCUR
Nomin Ujiyediin is a host and reporter at NPR member station KCUR in Kansas City, Missouri. She was previously criminal justice, social welfare and state government for the Kansas News Service, a collaboration that aired stories at NPR member stations and published articles in local newspapers throughout the state. She has also reported and produced for NPR member stations in Oklahoma and New York City. Originally from New Jersey, Nomin is a graduate of Rutgers University and the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.
Reporter, Colorado Public Radio
Paolo Zialcita is currently a general assignment reporter at Colorado Public Radio. He’s worked in public radio for pretty much his entire career, with his work appearing in NPR, KUNR in Reno, Nev. and Connecticut Public Radio. At CPR News, Paolo’s has produced award-winning breaking news coverage and reports features that straddle several different beats. When he’s not reporting, Paolo loves to explore different neighborhoods, try new recipes, and play video games.
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The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) is a membership nonprofit advancing diversity in newsrooms and ensuring fair and accurate coverage of communities of color. AAJA has more than 1,500 members across the United States and Asia.
