Meet Our Reporters

Andrea Flores is a freelance multimedia journalist. She recently accepted a reporter position with De Los, a Latino initiative at the Los Angeles Times. Her goal is to uplift communities of color through storytelling. Previously, she was a McCarter Fellow at WTTW Chicago PBS and a Digital Organizer for America’s Voice. Andrea is from Waukegan, Illinois, and feels most at home with all of her siblings in the same room.

Katrina Pham is a multimedia journalist based in Chicago. She aims to uplift the voices and stories of marginalized communities in the hopes of sparking change and awareness in those who read her work. She’s currently interning with Borderless Magazine, an immigrant- and refugee-serving magazine in Chicago, and works as a staff writer and newsletter contributor for The Yappie, an AAPI politics and policy digital news outlet. Before Borderless, she interned with ABC 7 Chicago on their Race & Culture News team. As a senior, Katrina is studying journalism and Asian American Studies at Northwestern University. She cares deeply about Chicago, but is not a fan of deep dish pizza — she recommends instead trying the hundreds of cuisines and restaurants Chicago has to offer, like Vietnamese food on Argyle Street.

Ryland Pietras is an incoming graduate student at Northwestern University. His goal is to be a facilitator for folks to tell their own stories and discuss the issues and ideas that matter most to them. He currently hosts a weekly radio show on WZRD Chicago and has contributed to South Side Weekly and City Bureau in Chicago. Ryland is from northern Wisconsin and feels most at home when he is by or on the water.

Cynthia is an up and coming reporter and writer. Her goal is to shed light on the stories that we often do not hear. She has worked with Yollocalli’s Arts Reach as a radio intern for the past four summers. She feels most at home while learning and engaging with her community in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago. Cynthia is a graduate of Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and is a Chicago native.

Nidhi Shastri is a freelance podcast producer and creator of the “Model Minority: Uniquely American,” a podcast showcasing stories from the Asian, African and Middle Eastern American communities. She released the podcast in 2020, and it has since been featured in places like Inside National Geographic and the University of California – Berkeley. She is currently an associate producer at Narratively, and was a 2021 AIR New Voices scholar. Nidhi is working to uplift Asian, African and Middle Eastern voices through her work, and uses podcasting as a medium for educating and creating social change.