NPR

Lunar New Year traditions evolve in the Asian diaspora

The Lunar New Year is one of the biggest holidays in many Asian countries. When asked to think about how NPR would cover the holiday, I decided to bring my coworkers together to celebrate how traditions have evolved not only after COVID-19 separated many families, but as the Asian diaspora grows.

This article was featured on the NPR Daily Newsletter, and I later hosted a Twitter Spaces event where my coworkers and I spoke to our audience about their traditions. I was particularly thankful to hear listeners express how happy they were that NPR was telling Asian stories.

4 U.S. Supreme Court Cases Where Asian Americans Fought For Civil Rights

Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month 2021 was a solemn time. Anti-Asian hate crimes were on the rise, and much of NPR’s coverage was focused on these cases. I wanted to make sure our coverage was balanced and celebrated the contributions Asian Americans have made to the U.S. This article was the result.

'Black Panther' Star Chadwick Boseman Dies Of Cancer At Age 43

I had been at NPR for a little more than three months when Chadwick Boseman died. The news came pretty late at night, and when I clocked in a midnight our obituary was sparse. I was nervous about writing about such a legendary actor for such a large news outlet, but my admiration for Boseman’s work guided my own. I’m really proud of this piece, as it’s one of the first I wrote for NPR.

TEGNA

Never Again: The School Shooting Generation

This documentary was a group effort and exemplifies how stories are made better when they’re told through multiple mediums. Our team told the story of these young D.C., Maryland and Virginia based gun control activists through photos, video, text and a documentary.

For this project, I wrote the digital story, created the timeline, gallery, and helped produce the documentary. This project was nominated for a regional Emmy in 2018.

This black musician changes minds, one KKK member at a time

This was my first major project at TEGNA, and the first project I worked on after getting my undergraduate degree. My coworker and I pitched the story of a black man who purposely befriends KKK members in order to convince them to leave the group. It was my first time conducting a full length interview outside of class. I wrote the digital piece and my coworker produced the video that accompanies the article.

So you want to be a K-pop star? K-pop Academy trains students to be ‘idols’

Most of the pieces I produced at TEGNA were a team effort. For this story, I was on my own for much of the project. I’ve always been fascinated by K-Pop’s rising popularity in the global landscape. At the time of publication, groups like BTS had not yet become a household name and many people I spoke to couldn’t wrap their minds around why American fans were so obsessed with a strange music genre sung in a language they didn’t speak. I pitched this article to showcase how K-pop has won the hearts and minds of Americans.

For this project, I conducted all interviews and shot all the footage. A coworker edited the footage together for the featured video, and I wrote the digital article.

Video

Colin Huggins Reciprocity Project

Colin Huggins is a beloved street performing in New York. He’s known for bringing a grand piano to outdoor spaces. I would chat with him on my way home from classes and when he told me he was working on a project to provide music programming for at risk youth, I decided to tell his story for NYU’s “The Beat, TV Neighborhoods” class. I followed Colin and his students for a semester. The result is two videos, edited for long-form and short-form. Fall 2016