Roxane De La Rosa

Prior to joining Arizona PBS, De La Rosa reported on education, immigration issues and covered local politics. She worked as an intern at Arizona PBS and the Arizona Republic. She ventured off into a journalism career after working as a receptionist at a local NPR station. De La Rosa has a master's degree in mass communication from the Walter Cronkite School of Mass Communication, where she earned her bachelor's in journalism. As a student she was a news reporter for the Cronkite Newsroom. She went on to travel to the Dominican Republic to report on immigration issues, as well as the border wall built along Haiti. Her other passion is sharing onstage stories about her life experiences.

Lizzie Ramirez

Lizzie Ramirez interned at The Nevada Independent before joining The Times-Independent. At The Indy, she helped cover the 2025 legislative session, aiding the legislative team in writing live blogs, monitoring hearings, and connecting pending legislation to Nevadans to illustrate how potential laws could impact the state. Prior to graduating from the University of Nevada, Reno with her master's degree, Ramirez worked for Teen Vogue where she served as Nevada’s correspondent. She reported how young people were mobilizing in battleground states in an attempt to swing the election. Ramirez also worked for The New York Times as a freelance reporter and collected data throughout the week of the election. Her passion for reporting began when she was the news editor at the student-run newspaper, The Nevada Sagebrush, before she graduated with her bachelors degree in journalism.

Alex Frick

Before joining the Port Townsend and Jefferson County Leader, Alex Frick studied journalism at the University of Florida. As a non-traditional student, Frick returned to school to pursue his reignited passion for storytelling and discovered journalism. While in college, he interned at the Leader, where he experienced firsthand the challenges of providing consistent and sufficient, high-quality local news coverage in rural areas. Frick was also one of 24 students from the United States selected by CNN to participate in a 10-day global crisis simulation in Abu Dhabi, joining 120 students from 20 countries to experience fast-paced reporting under pressure. Prior to his return to school, Frick worked in automotive management, following in his father’s footsteps where he developed valuable leadership, communication, and problem-solving skills. He now brings that same drive, curiosity, and passion to covering real-life stories and pressing issues in Jefferson County.

Amaya Edwards

Prior to joining Santa Cruz Local, visual journalist Amaya Edwards worked as the visuals intern for the San Francisco Chronicle and freelanced for different news organizations throughout the Bay Area, including the Oaklandside and San Francisco Chronicle. Edwards earned a bachelor's degree in photojournalism with a minor in race and resistance studies at San Francisco State University in 2022. She was a recipient of the Fran Ortiz grant during her time at SFSU, allowing her to work on her documentary photo essay about Black women doulas and their commitment to Black maternal health justice in and around Oakland.

Io Yeh Gilman

Before joining Mission Local as an RFA corp member, Io Yeh Gilman interned there in 2024, covering Pride, crime, homelessness, animals, and more. Born and raised in San Francisco, she previously reported on the city while working at The Lowell, her high school’s newspaper. In college, Gilman led Fifteen Minutes, The Harvard Crimson’s weekly magazine. She edited features and long form stories and wrote about a variety of topics including right wing attacks on DEI programs, climate change, science research, and more. Gilman holds a bachelor’s degree in History and Science from Harvard University and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.

Hannah Shields

Before joining Daily Inter Lake, Hannah Shields reported on the Wyoming state government for the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, covering health care policy, education and state politics, among other issues. She earned a first-place Pacemaker Award from the Wyoming Press Association for an investigative piece on special education in public schools. She placed third in the Top of the Rockies Award for a story on Medicaid in Wyoming. Her passion for journalism was sparked while taking Journalism 101 at a community college in California. From there, she transferred to Long Beach State University and immediately joined the student newspaper, where she served as the news editor. She interned at The Sacramento Bee the summer after graduating with her bachelor's degree in journalism and political science. When not writing, Shields enjoys dancing ballet, reading and listening to podcasts!

Mariana Martínez Barba

Prior to joining Voice of San Diego, Martínez Barba worked as a freelance journalist between the U.S. and Mexico, producing stories on immigration, culture, and climate for outlets like The Los Angeles Times, Prism Reports, and Ireland’s national radio station RTÉ. She also worked as a stringer for The Washington Post and as a field reporter and translator for The New York Times. As an intern with The Associated Press, Martínez Barba covered the historic inauguration of Mexico’s first female president, the capital’s ongoing water crisis, and investigated the growing network of migrant camps in Mexico City. She holds a master's degree from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY with a double concentration in international and bilingual reporting. She was a finalist for the Ñ Awards for NAHJ in 2024 and a recipient of the Silurians Press Club Award in 2023 for local reporting in New York City. She also holds a B.A. in Sociology from Occidental College.

Oona Wood Milliken

Before joining The Nevada Independent, Oona Milliken was a student journalist at Columbia Journalism School, where she covered politics, housing and business. Prior to that, she worked as a metro reporter and freelancer in New York City. She holds an undergraduate degree from Occidental College in Los Angeles, where she first fell in love with journalism.

Alexander Banks

Before joining the Yakima Herald-Republic, Banks completed two internships with the Baker City Herald, through the University of Oregon's Snowden internship, and the Statesman Journal, in partnership with the Asian American Journalists Association. During those internships, he covered education, economic development, breaking news and feature stories. He holds a bachelor’s degree in creative writing from Oregon State University and is currently studying for his master’s in strategic communications from Washington State University. His passion for journalism started while working for OSU’s student newspaper, The Daily Barometer, where he wrote his first feature story on the dean of the College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences. Banks enjoys screenwriting, photography, videography and learning Spanish in his free time. A fun fact about him is that his mother used to be a columnist for The Oregonian.

Lauren Miller

Prior to joining the Montana Free Press, Lauren Miller worked as a multimedia journalist at the Casper Star-Tribune first and then the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. The Syracuse University graduate is passionate about visual storytelling, including photography, cinematography, portraiture, audio and archival work, and tailors her approach to each project’s needs. She is dedicated to genuinely capturing the intimate, mundane and beautiful moments and emotions that make up daily life. Outside of her work, she is passionate about the outdoors, running, winning card games, being with her friends, baking, fighting through her lactose intolerance for deep dish pizza and, occasionally, long walks on the beach, or rather runs in the mountains.