INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST · NARRATIVE AUDIO · PUBLIC RECORDS

Every institution has an official story. I go get the paperwork.

I’m Armon Owlia, an investigative journalist and narrative audio producer. I report on what happens to people when public systems decide things about their lives, and I build the case from the documents those systems leave behind.

I read the transcripts nobody reads. I file the records requests, wait, and appeal when the answer is no. Then I find the people living with the consequences, because they’re the reason any of it matters.

RECORD. My investigative audio series. Season 1, Below Minimum, is a five-part investigation into Section 14(c), the federal law that still lets employers pay disabled workers less than minimum wage. It’s out now, with five companion articles. Season 2 is coming in 2027.

AfroLA. I’m a multimedia reporter covering Black Los Angeles: health, disability, labor, and local power.

Track record. I did research and document review for KQED’s On Our Watch: New Folsom, which won the 2024 IRE Award for longform audio. My commentary has run in the San Francisco Chronicle and The Philadelphia Inquirer. I have a master’s in journalism from UC Berkeley. I started out as an audio engineer and producer, so I build stories like I’d mix a record: structure, pacing, and nothing that doesn’t earn its place.

If a detail isn’t solid, it doesn’t go in.

Editors, producers, and collaborators: I report, write, host, and produce. Get in touch, or download my resume.