Meet Our Reporters

Kait Lavo is a recent graduate of California State University, Northridge. While completing her bachelor’s degree in journalism, Lavo worked as a freelance photographer.

Her portrait photography was featured in global and national news outlets such as the Los Angeles Times and Fox 11 Los Angeles. Lavo’s photography and written work have appeared in The Chicago Reader and The Daily Sundial, her alma mater’s student run publication.

Along with reporting in the field, Lavo worked as the photo editor, eventually becoming editor-in-chief of the Daily Sundial.

As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, she loves to learn about the queer experience.

Rachel Livinal is a senior journalism major finishing her last semester at Cal State Long Beach. She is on staff at two of the university’s student-run media organizations, as the radio production and imaging director for 22 West and the podcast editor at DIG Magazine.

Rachel decided to pursue journalism because she has always loved sharing the many sides of individual stories, and she hopes to become an investigative podcaster. In her spare time, she likes to write poetry and climb imaginary but steep hills during spin class.

Tony Morales is a multimedia artist and educator from Los Angeles. Before returning to the area, he was a college advisor to high school students in Richmond, Calif., and launched UC Berkeley’s Multicultural Community Center’s podcast platform.

His passion for audio storytelling stems from his family’s sonidero, or DJ, background and oral history, and he uses different media to tackle themes in home-building, labor issues and music culture. Tony’s work has been featured by UC Berkeley’s Labor Center, Dryland literary journal and Home Grown Radio. The Los Angeles Clippers’ “Write the Story” campaign has honored his writing.

Paloma Moreno Jiménez is an audio storyteller from the borderlands of Tijuana-Chula Vista. Paloma has worked with WNYC’s Radiolab, WBEZ’s Art of Power, and YR Media’s Inherited. After graduating from Stanford University, Paloma began interning for the Women’s Audio Mission where she focused on improving her sound engineering skills.

Paloma is passionate about using audio to provide a missing mic and platform for intergenerational stories, specifically from LGBTQ+ and POC communities. Beyond the stories, Paloma identifies as a 2000s pop girlie, is well versed in curly hair products, and calls Broad City and New Girl her comfort shows.

Anne To is a third year journalism major and creative writing minor at Cal State LA. She is the managing editor at the University Times and news director for the Golden Eagle Radio. She wants to highlight the lives of the AAPI community, and enjoys working in audio engineering, podcasting, and radio. She enjoys collecting blind box figurines, cosplaying, reading, and playing video games. She was born in the year of the horse.

Zaynah Waseem is a graduate student at the University of Southern California pursuing a Master of Arts in Visual Anthropology. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Global Studies and Media & Cultural Studies from the University of California, Riverside. She is passionate about documenting the diverse stories of Pakistani, Muslim and immigrant communities through film, video and media. In her free time, she enjoys building Lego models, traveling and going through family photo albums.