Best of 2024

Newly on staff at WAMU's 1A, the nationally syndicated current affairs and culture show for NPR stations. To see my full CV,click here.

Filters & Sorting

Best of 2023

Produced sound-rich, unexpected stories for Bloomberg's daily news podcast The Big Take

Avoiding War With China Is The Top Issue In Taiwan's Election

Taiwan’s current Vice President, ​​Lai Ching-te, leads the polls in the upcoming January presidential election. The winner will have a lot to contend with–and at the top of the list is how to keep the peace with China amid rising tensions. Bloomberg Businessweek editor Joel Weber sat down with Vice President Lai for several wide-ranging interviews in Taiwan. Joel and Taipei deputy bureau chief Cindy Wang join this episode to talk about the challenges the next president will face in preserving a democratic Taiwan.

You Never Think About Your Car’s Catalytic Converter—Until Thieves Saw It Off

Catalytic converters are a vital part of emissions reduction in gas-powered vehicles. But that’s not why they’ve been making headlines. Thieves across the US have been sawing them off cars because they contain precious metals like platinum, palladium and rhodium. Bloomberg Businessweek contributor Evan Ratliff is here to tell the tale of a $500 million catalytic converter theft ring—and how local police departments and federal law enforcement brought it down.

Women's Pro Tackle Football Takes The Field

Bloomberg Businessweek contributor Mary Pilon joins this episode to talk about the promise–and challenges–of building a fanbase for the Women’s Football Alliance, an all-female, full-contact league that has 60 teams in four divisions across 32 states. And we head to a nighttime practice of the DC Divas, to hear from the players and coaches about why they love the game and what it means for women to play tackle football.

Dust Off Your Dice–Dungeons & Dragons Is Back

The tabletop roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons is approaching its 50th anniversary and it has never been more popular, attracting players of all ages to its analog charms. Now Hasbro, the toy company that owns it, is betting D&D can be brought into the digital age and become a big moneymaker. Bloomberg correspondent Felix Gillette joins this episode to talk about why Dungeons & Dragons is having a cultural — and economic — moment, and why it might not be so easy to persuade diehard fans to pay for a digital experience. Gaming retail store owner Lauren Bilanko shares what it’s like to run a business that caters to the D&D crowd.

Will ChatGPT Steal Your Job?

As the technology powering artificial intelligence keeps improving, it’s getting harder to tell the difference between human and machine. And that means companies are looking to capitalize on its uses.ChatGPT’s maker OpenAI is quickly rolling out new iterations, like the more powerful version of the product called GPT-4. Google has introduced its own version, albeit with some early stumbles. And Elon Musk also has his eye on the AI space. Bloomberg Opinion columnist Parmy Olson and technology reporters Dina Bass and Rachel Metz have reported extensively on the rise of ChatGPT and other forms of AI. They join this episode to talk through the upsides–and significant downsides–of a bot that can appear to write and sort of think for you, and what it looks like when humanlike machines become a bigger part of our daily work and lives.

Countries Cautiously Weigh A Return to Nuclear Power - The Big Take

Twelve years after the 2011 Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster, Japan is now considering restarting its shuttered nuclear reactors to combat rising energy prices. It’s a slow process, and one where the government and the public are conflicted about the advantages and risks of nuclear power. Around the world, countries that turned off their reactors in the wake of Fukushima, or have closed old or expensive reactors, are doing a similar about-face, with rising energy prices and clean energy.

Best of 2022

Filters & Sorting

20 Extra Tons of — Ahem — Cargo

In 2019, US officials seized a massive cargo ship called the MSC Gayane in the Port of Philadelphia. On board, they found containers filled with products of all kinds that the ship had picked up along its global route. They also discovered cargo that didn’t appear on the ship’s manifest—40,000 pounds of cocaine. Bloomberg investigative reporters Lauren Etter and Michael Riley join this episode to tell the wild story of how one of the world’s biggest cargo ships became an unofficial courier for a notorious European drug cartel.

The Copper You Need Is Stuck In A 30-Mile Traffic Jam

Here’s a random yet important fact: Copper is one of the very best conductors of electricity of all metals. And that matters, because as we move toward a world in which more and more things in our lives plug in or charge up–not just your phone, but electric vehicles, solar panels and wind turbines that will power the future–copper is in increasingly high demand. Worldwide, about 21 million metric tons of it are hauled up from the ground each year. And demand will soon double. Some of the richest reserves of copper are found in Southern Africa. But getting it from deep underground and trucking it thousands of miles to buyers can be a harrowing journey.

The US Middle Class Is Doing Fine. Why Are They So Worried?

Hello and welcome to The Big Take Podcast! Today: The good news, and not so good news, about the US middle class. With inflation rising, the stock market ping-ponging and housing prices softening, that broad swath of Americans who form the backbone of the US economy are getting hit on all sides. Bloomberg reporters Shawn Donnan, Alex Tanzi, Claire Ballentine and Airielle Lowe teamed up to take a look at how middle-income Americans are doing. The answer: Not so badly, actually–at least on paper.

Like Family, Like Nation: A Braver Angel Mediates Polarization at Home & Nationwide

We kick off Episode 8 of Season 3, “Like Family, Like Nation,” with Guzmán’s retelling of that conversation stopper also featured in her new book, I Never Thought of It That Way: How To Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times. She joins Rob this week for Episode 8 of Season 3 to talk about open political dialogue, letting curiosity lead you, and why her Mexican immigrant parents voted for Donald Trump.

Best of 2021 / 2020

Highlights of my earlier work. Freelance producer from February 2021 onward. Reporting Fellow for WFAE 90.7, Charlotte's NPR station in partnership with the nonprofit media organization Votebeat, 2020-2021.

Arts & Ideas: November 28th, 2021

[Producer for weekly show] This week on Arts and Ideas: 7pm: Tales of clandestine cooking, kitchen rituals and underground traditions. It’s Hidden Kitchens, from the Kitchen Sisters. The outdoor ovens of Western sheep-herders, barbeque meets Lebanese food in the Mississippi Delta, and more. 8pm: Winding down the Chicago, Green, and Ganges rivers. Stories about how rivers feed us and shape our lives. 9pm: Whether cancel culture is a good thing. A debate from Intelligence Squared US about the value of calling out and public

How the 2020 election sparked a new kind of journalism

One year ago this week, Americans’ anxiety and uncertainty about the 2020 election was already inching upward when Donald Trump propagated the lie that mail-ballot fraud could cost him his victory and as far-right media began a movement called Stop the Steal. Also one year ago, a group of 15 reporters around the country got a crash course in a new kind of journalism and started jobs with a pop-up newsroom called Votebeat.

Best of 2019

Transom Story Workshop (Spring 2019); Queen City Podcast Network Studio Producer (Summer 2019); WFAE Reporting Fellow (Beginning Fall 2019)

Filters & Sorting

Uptown Charlotte's Protected Bike Lane On Track, But Not Fast Enough For Cyclists

Cyclists would love to not worry about being hit by vehicles. And drivers would love to not worry about hitting cyclists. Charlotte planners believe a protected bike lane project will make everyone happier and safer on uptown's roads. Stephanie Bercht is a designer who works uptown. She commutes to work by bike every day — she says there’s no bad day to bike. You just need to be prepared. As prepared as Bercht is, she still gets scared on her commute into uptown.