Voices is a student program that provides aspiring journalists with career-ready skills to succeed in the continually-evolving media landscape. By nurturing relationships between students and professional volunteers, Voices also gives students the opportunity to tap into mentors’ networks and begin their own while also providing AAJA journalists leadership and management opportunities.
Directors
Maya Srikrishnan, Director
Maya is a reporter at Voice of San Diego. She currently covers the U.S.-Mexico border and immigration issues, and previously wrote about education, housing and land use issues in San Diego County. Maya was raised in New York and studied history at the University of Texas in Austin. She has a master’s in international affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and was a fellow at the Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism at Columbia’s Journalism School. Maya also served in the Peace Corps in Panama, where she trained Panamanian teachers for nearly three years.
Ahn Gray, Deputy Director
Anh is a contributing editor at KUNR Public Radio in Reno, Nevada. Her reporting work earned a Regional Edward R. Murrow Award in the 2019 hard news category, and she’s been a two-time recipient of the Associated Press Television Radio Association best reporter recognition in her region. Working with early-career journalists on honing the craft of writing, producing, and voicing audio stories is Anh’s career highlight. She’s Report for America’s Audio Coach for a 10-newsroom pilot program supported by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Anh is also a mentor with NPR’s Next Generation Radio, a week-long multimedia training project.
Farnoush Amiri, Director
Farnoush is currently a reporter with The Associated Press, based in Columbus, Ohio, through the Report for America program. She covers Ohio politics, general news and is on the national police reform beat team. Before coming to the AP, Farnoush worked as a digital reporter at NBC News, where her reporting took her to Puerto Rico to cover the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. She received a master’s from New York University’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute in late 2018. In addition to her helping lead Voices, she currently serves as the vice president of the South Asian Journalists Association.
Isaac Easley, Deputy Director
Isaac graduated from Arizona State University’s Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in 2012. He was a producer for MGM Resorts, started his own production company, Take It Easley Productions, and worked for the content team at Phoenix Suns. While working for the Suns, he received an Emmy and Telly Award, and took on a teaching position with Cronkite. He fell in love with teaching and currently teaches Video Journalism and Innovation at Cronkite.
Editors
Irena Hwang (she/they) is a data reporter at ProPublica, based in Atlanta, GA. Previously, she worked at National Public Radio, The Associated Press and The Dallas Morning News. She has a master's in journalism and doctorate in electrical engineering from Stanford University, and master's and bachelor's degrees in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Nicholas Wu is a Congressional Reporter at POLITICO. He's covered the investigation into the Jan. 6 insurrection, the congressional response to the coronavirus pandemic, and President Trump's impeachment trials, among many other issues on the Hill. He previously worked as a Congressional Reporter and a breaking political news reporter at USA TODAY and as a fellow at National Journal. He has appeared on radio and television programs including MSNBC, CBSN, and BBC and CBC affiliates to provide political analysis.
Mallika Sen is an editor at The Associated Press, focusing on U.S. northeast news and occasionally picking up a pen herself. Originally from Los Angeles, she's made it a point to live in cities with robust public transportation and managed to survive two years working for the AP in Atlanta without a car. She's passionate about obituaries, inclusion and enforcing Slack camaraderie. She graduated from Georgetown in 2016, and previously interned for BBC News and a media consultancy firm in Washington.
Joe Hong has been covering K-12 education for CalMatters, a nonprofit newsroom based in Sacramento, California. He reports on the students, teachers and lawmakers who shape California's public schools with the goal of bridging the gap between policy and lived student experiences. He earned a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in comparative literature from the University of California, Irvine. He's also a proud graduate of California's public schools.
Naina Rao is a freelance multimedia journalist and most recently served as the news anchor and reporter for Wyoming's NPR member station, in Laramie, WY. Before hosting Morning Edition, Naina was a producer at WAMU's "1A" and NPR's Story Lab and reported on race, identity, and environment in Michigan. Born and raised in Jakarta, Indonesia, and educated in the U.S., Naina has lived in Singapore and India in between and speaks Bahasa Indonesia and Melayu fluently
Tiffany Camhi is the "All Things Considered" host for Oregon Public Broadcasting in Portland, Ore. In addition to hosting, she also covers stories surrounding homelessness and housing in the Portland region. Tiffany is an alumnus of the City University of New York, Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism.
Rosa Kim is a television producer at CBS News Washington bureau. She produces politics stories covering the White House, Congress, all government agencies and foreign affairs for CBS News' Emmy and Peabody-award winning morning broadcast. During her eight years at the network, Rosa has covered two presidential elections, the ongoing war in Ukraine, the January 6th attack on the Capitol, Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, the Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett confirmation hearings and former President Trump's impeachment trials. Rosa studied English and Spanish literature at Swarthmore College and received a master's degree from the Columbia Journalism School.
Andi Dukleth is a Video Journalist for NBC7 and Telemundo 20 News. She got her first news job in 2014 as a video editor for KUSI News, where she developed and honed her videography skills. She has covered notable news events such as the Santee Plane Crash, the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests in the region, the Woolsey Fire, and various presidential candidate visits. Having been at NBC7 and TLMD 20 since 2020, she has continued to work alongside award winning journalists for both newsrooms."
Frank Shyong is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times writing about diversity and diaspora in Los Angeles. He grew up south of Nashville, Tenn., and moved to Los Angeles in 2006 to study economics at UCLA. He joined The Times in 2012 and previously reported on the San Gabriel Valley, Chinese immigration to the Southland and the Asian American community.
Rong-Gong Lin II is a metro reporter for the Los Angeles Times based in the San Francisco Bay Area and covers the COVID-19 pandemic and earthquake safety issues. He has also written about municipal corruption and local government. He was a member of the reporting team covering the San Bernardino shootings that won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in breaking news. He is graduate of UC Berkeley.
Annie Ma is a national reporter at the Associated Press. She is part of the race and ethnicity team at AP, covering inequality in public education and how race and class shape student outcomes, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Before joining AP, she covered Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools for the Charlotte Observer -- her investigative work exposed misconduct, financial lapses and ethics oversights. Originally from Florida, she graduated from Dartmouth College, where she studied government and quantitative social science.