Illinois

Cybele Mayes-Osterman

Before joining The Associated Press, Mayes-Osterman covered the Pentagon and national security from Washington, D.C., for USA TODAY. She previously worked as an associate producer for PBS NewsHour and Washington Week. A New Mexico native, Mayes-Osterman entered journalism as an intern at the Santa Fe Reporter. She holds a degree in English literature, creative writing, and East Asian studies from Barnard College. Outside of work, she sings jazz.

Aydali Campa

Aydali Campa is a multimedia bilingual journalist based in Chicago whose reporting and video work span education, environmental justice, and immigration. Her work has appeared in The Arizona Republic, The Wall Street Journal, Inside Climate News, and Borderless Magazine. She has produced an investigative documentary, segments for an Arizona PBS primetime series, and short-form videos in English and Spanish for various media organizations and social media platforms. She began her journalism career as an undergraduate at Arizona State University, where she focused on video production and magazine writing, before serving as a Teach for America corps member teaching third and fourth grade. She later returned to ASU to earn a master's degree in investigative journalism. When she's not reporting, she's watching reality TV, working out, or searching for her next hobby.

Investigative Project on Race and Equity

The Investigative Project on Race and Equity focuses on exposing systemic racism by uncovering discriminatory practices and shining a light on abuses of power that drive racial and economic disparities. Through data and deep-dive investigations, the Project on Race and Equity tell stories that inform people about social issues — and build and analyze databases to bring systemic injustice into focus.

The Associated Press – Illinois

The Associated Press is a global news organization that is one of the world's most trusted sources of independent, nonpartisan and factual news in all formats. The AP is located in 100 countries and has journalists in all 50 states. More than half the world's population sees AP journalism every day.

Daily Herald

The Daily Herald is a 149-year-old, employee-owned news organization, and the largest in suburban Chicago. These suburbs account for half the population of the Chicago metro area and have the vast majority of the region’s governmental entities. There are 75 towns, 96 school districts and six counties and court systems in this area, offering rich opportunities for enterprising reporters.

My Ly

Before joining Evanston RoundTable, My Ly covered the health disparities in Little Rock for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Ly is a graduate of Auburn University where she worked as a managing editor, community reporter and editor for The Auburn Plainsman, the student-run newspaper. While at Auburn she earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism.

Sophia Kalakailo

Before joining City Bureau, Sophia Kalakailo reported on the Ypsilanti, Michigan area for MLive. She covered homelessness, dire conditions in one of the city’s largest apartment complexes, excessive flooding in predominantly Black and low-income neighborhoods and raids of pro-Palestine protesters’ homes in late April. As a college freshman, she served as the news editor for Eastern Michigan University’s student newspaper, The Eastern Echo. She earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism with a minor in documentary film from Michigan State University. As an editor at The State News, she oversaw an investigation revealing allegations that one Title IX executive slowed crucial civil rights and sexual misconduct investigations. Interning at the nonprofit newsroom Bridge Michigan and the statewide NPR station Michigan Public, Kalakailo covered misinformation and cultural divides over the state’s reintroduced wolf population. She also followed the late Dr. Robert Anderson sexual abuse scandal at the University of Michigan and the unionization of Starbucks workers across the state.

Camilla Forte

Camilla Forte is a visual journalist based in Chicago. Before joining Borderless Magazine as a Catchlight/Report for America corps member, Forte was the multimedia producer for The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit newsroom focused on covering innovation and inequality in education. She holds a B.A. in photojournalism from Columbia College Chicago. As a student, she was a Borderless Pathways Photo Fellow, participated in the New York Times Institute and was the director of photography of the Columbia Chronicle. Forte is a member of Diversify Photo, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the National Press Photographers Association. She is a big fan of the Great Lakes, reading for pleasure and kindness.

Candace Dane Chambers

Prior to joining The Chicago Sun-Times, Candace Chambers was a freelance photographer and videographer based in Washington, DC. She’s contributed to The Washington Post, New York Times, AARP, Ebony magazine, and National Geographic TV, covering arts and culture, health and wellness, and spot news. She has served as an oral history videographer at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, where she produced a series on intergenerational activism over the course of a year. Chambers holds a master's degree in New Media Photojournalism from The Corcoran School of the Arts at Georgetown University, where she was awarded the 2022 Outstanding MA Student in New Media Photojournalism for "Watered", her thesis project on local Black women farmers. During her time in grad school, she was also selected to attend Eddie Adams Workshop Class of XXXIV and earned an assignment award with People Magazine for her story documenting a woman born with idiopathic epilepsy.