Our Reporters

Ryanne Mena

Ryanne Mena is a senior at California State University, Northridge majoring in journalism. She loves film photography, vintage clothing and listening to NPR while on the road.  Driven by curiosity and passion, her dream is to become an investigative journalist. She’s the Community Outreach Editor of the Sundial, CSUN’s student-run publication. Mena enjoys being in nature, taking photos with her father’s 1970s-era Pentax 35mm film camera and watching documentaries. 

‘I think I can’

I learned this week that I can do this thing called journalism. I mean, I knew I had a set of skills that I am still, and always will be, working to progress and improve, but I really impressed myself this week— and not in a cocky way. I showed myself that if I put my...

Mitzi Vazquez

Mitzi Vazquez

Mitzi Vazquez is a journalism student at Cal State Long Beach. She graduates in May 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. She is the current editor-in-chief of the only Spanish magazine in Long Beach, DÍG en Español. She has also written for the Daily49er, and SACMedia—a publication powered by the Washington Post. Her Mexican roots incite her passion for journalism to be able to tell stories about people of color. She loves to listen to pop music and drink lots of coffee.

An experience that lasts forever

NPR’s Next Generation Radio newsroom project at the University of Southern California has further incited my passion for journalism. After this experience, I can say I am walking out of here as a stronger individual. I am proud to have participated in this project...

Lucia Ruan

Miami native Lucia Ruan is a second-generation Chinese American. She is a journalism master’s degree candidate at the University of Southern California. Lucia works as an editor for Annenberg Media’s newly launched Asian American vertical, elevASIAN. Her work has appeared on Snapchat, Jubilee Media, BuzzFeed, Catapult and Knock LA. Her hobbies are baking, running, watching movies and listening to K-pop.

Aarohi Sheth

Houston Native Aarohi Sheth is a senior at the University of Southern California with a journalism major. She is interested in writing about identity, arts & culture. She uses entertainment as a lens for issues surrounding racial equity, diversity and inclusion. Aarohi is passionate about uplifting the South Asian community through her reporting.  Her work has appeared in L.A. TACO, Texas Monthly, Houstonia Magazine and Culturas, among others. Her hobbies are reading and skateboarding.

Learning about climate change through storytelling

When I applied to Next Generation Radio a few weeks ago, I never thought that I would soon be on a boat in Santa Barbara, interviewing a sea urchin diver about climate change, learning how to slurp urchin roe off the back of my hand.  I applied to this program because...

Chelsea Healy

Chelsea Healy is a reporter from the Kainai First Nation, located in Southern Alberta, Canada. Kainai is part of the Blackfoot Confederacy and is the largest reservation in the country. Currently, Healy is a senior at the University of California, Los Angeles, focusing on American Indian Studies. Sportswriting and storytelling are interests of hers. Healy devotes her free time to work as a producer for the first Native American and Pacific Island UCLA student podcast and as a sportswriter for the university’s newspaper, the Daily Bruin.

She is also working on campus as the Community College Coordinator for American Indian recruitment. Healy plans to attend law school next. Her interest in law was influenced by her brother Darnel Tailfeathers, who graduated from Thompson Rivers University Law School in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. A fun fact about Chelsea is that she competed in Wipeout Canada, an obstacle-based reality television show in 2011 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

‘Treated like family’

The week with NPR Next Generation Radio went by very fast. The first day doing interviews and getting invited to the celebration of life at Matthew Teutimez’s great-aunt’s funeral reminded me of being home. My mentor, Avishay Artsy, and I were welcomed by Teutimez's...

Habeba Mostafa

Habeba Mostafa is a graduate student in mass communication at California State University, Northridge. She graduated in 2018 from UCLA, where she had previously been a staff photographer for Daily Bruin, UCLA’s daily newspaper. Since then, she has worked as a freelance photographer, a high school English teacher in Egypt, and more recently, is the assistant multimedia editor for CSUN’S Daily Sundial. She is passionate about all things art, and hopes to one day release her collection of poems in the form of a book.

The valley of stress

The highs and lows Everything in between The discussion of weather And its new extremes Led to inconsistencies throughout the week From ocean sides, to mountain peaks Within the valley Suburban life Lies people, and animals, who equally reside In an environment that...