Meet Our Fellows

Jasmine Aguilera

Being born and raised on the U.S.-Mexico border has shaped Jasmine’s interests in journalism. She got her start as a student, pursuing stories on human trafficking and migration in El Paso, Texas, where she’s from. Her reporting of social justice issues on the border led to internships with Scripps Howard and Gannett covering policy in their Washington, D.C. bureaus. She continued her focus on coverage of underrepresented communities through a year-long internship at The Dallas Morning News on the enterprise and features desk. She later completed a fellowship at The New York Times after graduating from the University of Texas at El Paso. Since then, she’s been based in New York City working as a producer at NowThis, covering women’s news for the NowThis Her vertical.

Min Xian

Min is a reporter at WPSU, an NPR station in State College, Pennsylvania. She covers anything, from the loss of affordable housing to a Guinness World Record-breaking ice lantern display. She is also a reporter for Keystone Crossroads, a statewide collaborative project telling stories about gentrification, changing communities and government accountability. Not being what she considers “classically trained” for radio (she got a B.A. in print and digital journalism), she is perpetually eager to learn about what makes awesome radio. These days after work, she listens to even more NPR, hangs out with her cat and explores new ways to meal prep.

Esmy Jimenez

Born in Mexico but raised in rural Washington, Esmy Jimenez is fascinated with the alchemy of storytelling.

Esmy, who is a reporter for Northwest Public Broadcasting, returned to the Pacific Northwest after graduating from USC for environmental studies and international relations.

Esmy was a 2016 apprentice with The Seattle Globalist. Her work has been featured in in Femme Feminism, NPR and The Washington Post, among other publications. Esmy is on the board of The Seattle Globalist and a Maynard 200 Fellow.

She is inspired by the resilience and joy of community and the magical works of Octavia Butler and Isabel Allende. When she’s not running around, you can usually find her talking about eating or eating while talking.

Monica Rivera

Monica Rivera is a first-generation Latina from NYC who is a marketer by day and podcaster by passion. She produces and hosts YOU WANNA DO WHAT?!, a weekly podcast heard in over 70 countries.

A self-proclaimed multipotentialite (just a fancy word for someone who has many interests), Monica used to think something must be wrong with her when people would encourage her to follow her passion but she couldn’t settle on one thing. After 15 years in Corporate America, and consuming dozens of self-help books and TED Talks, Monica pivoted to building a successful podcast and consulting practice.

Monica believes “who you are” is more important than “what you do” and is committed to amplifying the voices of people with lots of commas after their names.

Samantha Guzman

Samantha Guzman is a Dominican-American journalist living in Dallas, Texas. Sam has always been drawn to character-driven stories about underrepresented people in her community and she strives to tell their stories in a visually compelling way. Sam loves all things Beyonce and if merengue music is playing you can find her on the dance floor.

Savannah Maher

A proud citizen of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Nation, Savannah was born into a family of vibrant storytellers. She stumbled into the world of public radio halfway through college. It felt something like Wôpanâak oral tradition. So, she decided to stick around. She’s spent time as a reporting intern for WCAI and New Hampshire Public Radio, and she was a production intern and news assistant for NPR’s Here & Now. She hopes to spend her career telling stories that matter to Native communities. For now, she’s just looking for an editor who will let her capitalize the word “Indigenous.”