2026-2027

Lia Salvatierra

Lia Salvatierra covers education in Northern Kentucky for LINK nky. Before reporting for LINK, Salvatierra spent two years as a local government accountability reporter for the Ouray County Plaindealer with Report for America. Her accountability work spanned a first-place investigation on an effort to secure local ownership over a federal reservoir to award-winning features on the area’s striking characters. In 2024, after graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill, Salvatierra attended the Hearst National Journalism Awards Championship, where she won second place for her article on the use of artificial intelligence chatbots for psychotherapy. Her work has also appeared in WyoFile, INDY Week and other outlets in North Carolina, Wyoming and Colorado. When she's not wordsmithing, Salvatierra is learning silversmithing.

Sharmila Venkatasubban

Sharmila Venkatasubban is a senior editor and health reporter at the Florida Trib. Before joining Report for America, Venkatasubban was a reporter, editor, and researcher for local and international news outlets for two decades. She got her start at alt-weeklies in Pittsburgh and has worked at BuzzFeed News, Al Jazeera Media Network, and, most recently, at CNN. Venkatasubban has helped shape crucial stories at the height of #MeToo, as well as investigations across fields including education, health care, law enforcement, and government accountability. At AJ+, she was part of a team that won an Emmy Award for its coverage of the war in Gaza.

Sinclair Holian

Sinclair Holian covers development and gentrification for the Coconut Grove Spotlight. Through Report for America, Holian previously covered segregation and its lasting impacts for The Roanoke Rambler in Roanoke, Virginia. Holian studied journalism at UNC Chapel Hill, where she reported on inequalities in the agriculture industry, public education, and healthcare. Her story, “Land Loss and Legacy on Historic Black-owned Farmland,” received the 2024 Article of the Year award from the national Hearst Journalism Awards Program. When she’s not chasing a story, she enjoys swimming, hiking, and exploring local thrift shops.

Shauna Reynolds

Shauna Reynolds is the growth and development reporter at Main Street Media of Tennessee. Before joining Report for America, Reynolds worked as a freelance reporter covering the greater Nashville area for local and national outlets. She also interned at the Nashville Banner, after graduating from Middle Tennessee State University in 2025. At MTSU, she served as features editor for Sidelines, the university’s editorially independent student newspaper. When Reynolds is not reporting, she can be found hiking in state parks, watching and feeding backyard birds, or being a homebody with her family and their standard poodles.

Theo Greenly

Theo Greenly reports on Southern Oregon coastal communities for Jefferson Public Radio. Before that, he spent five years reporting from Alaska’s Bering Sea, where he chased stories by boat, helicopter, and, once, Jet Ski. He began as an RFA corps member at KUCB in Unalaska in 2021. After serving a full three years, he remained in the Aleutian Islands as a regional reporter for Alaska Public Media. His reporting has earned multiple honors, including a regional Edward R. Murrow Award for his coverage of Indigenous language revitalization in the Pribilof Islands and several awards from the Alaska Press Club. His work has appeared on Marketplace, Science Friday and NPR. Greenly began his public radio career at KCRW in Santa Monica after studying journalism at Santa Monica College and graduating from the Transom Storytelling Workshop. When he is not reporting, he is usually hiking or playing guitar.

Margaret Mellott

As an award-winning journalist in both Kansas and New York, Mellott covered health, education, economic development and local government. For the last two years, she's worked with the Johnson County Post, reporting on the community she grew up in. Prior to working with the Post, Mellott worked in central New York. That work, focused particularly on health, earned her two second place awards in state and local contests — the New York Press Association and the Syracuse Press Club. She was also a part of the team that earned first place in the Public Service Division of the Journalists Association of New York Contest. She graduated from Emporia State University's Communication Program in 2022, where she was also editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, The Bulletin. After college, Mellott covered statehouse news during an internship with the Kansas Reflector.

Stella Mayerhoff

Stella Mayerhoff, a scientist-turned-journalist, covers Minnesota’s Mississippi River headwaters region for KAXE/KBXE. Previously, Stella wrote for Mongabay, Eos, the San Jose Mercury News, the Monterey Herald, Georgia State University Research Magazine, and Stanford University’s Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute. She was a Taylor/Blakeslee Fellow through the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing and earned a master’s degree in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She also holds a master’s degree in psychology from Georgia State University and a bachelor’s degree in psychology and anthropology from the University of Wisconsin. She's a regional finalist for the Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Award in Science/Environment Reporting. Stella enjoys spending her time with her cat, TBD, who owes his perfectly odd name to a moment of writer’s block.

Maria Peralta-Arellano

Prior to joining WXPR, Maria Peralta-Arellano reported in Milwaukee as the Eric Von Fellow for WUWM, Milwaukee's NPR. Her reporting at WUWM covered topics that included environment, immigration, the arts, and culture with a focus on amplifying underrepresented voices. Her career is shaped by her experiences working with local and independent news organizations, freelancing for a bilingual newspaper, El Conquistador, covering community needs. She studied at the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee and graduated in 2024 with a bachelor's degree in multimedia journalism. She also minored in political science and earned a certificate in Latin American and Caribbean studies.

Stephanie Casanova

Stephanie Casanova is a Colorado River reporter for Arizona Luminaria. Her position is part of a partnership with High Country News Western Environmental Collaborative (WERC). Prior to joining Report for America, Casanova worked as an independent bilingual journalist from Tucson, Arizona, who has covered community stories for more than 10 years. She is passionate about narrative, in-depth and investigative storytelling that is inclusive and reflects the diversity of the communities she covers. Her work has been published by CALÓ News, Somos Tucson, Arizona Luminaria and Prism. She previously reported for Signal Cleveland, the Chicago Tribune and the Arizona Daily Star. Casanova is a 2026 investigative fellow with the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting and has completed fellowships with the SPJ Future Leaders Academy, the Maynard 200 investigative reporting program and the IRE Data Journalism Bootcamp. She has also mentored students through the SPJ Future Leaders Academy. When she is not working, Casanova is most likely dancing salsa or baking something sweet.

Gulf States Newsroom via WRKF

The Gulf States Newsroom was created to ensure that stories related to health care, criminal justice, the economy and other important issues continue to be told. WWNO and WRKF in Louisiana, WBHM in Alabama, Mississippi Public Broadcasting, and NPR are working together as a regional newsroom to plan coverage, share resources and add reporting power in a story-rich region that has for too long gone under-covered.