MY EVOLUTION IN AUDIO

I’ve always believed that sound carries a kind of power few other mediums can match. It’s intimate. Reflective. It invites you in—not just to hear, but to feel. I first stepped into a recording booth at age ten, as a child voice actor, and learned early that timing, silence, breath, and tone are just as essential to storytelling as the words themselves. That experience didn’t just shape my voice—it shaped how I listen, how I structure narrative, and how I build stories that stay with people long after they’ve been heard.

That early spark became a lifelong pursuit—not just of performance, but of precision. I wanted to understand not just how to deliver a line, but how to design the entire ecosystem of sound around it. I studied sound engineering and studio production, then spent years experimenting—building setups, tearing them apart, testing workflows, refining mixes. I was lucky to learn from peers, mentors, and fellow creators along the way, whose feedback sharpened my ear and helped evolve my craft.

When I entered journalism, I didn’t treat audio as a side channel—I saw it as a language of its own. In 2017, as a college student eager to learn the ropes, I launched my first independent podcast, “Owlia’s Opinions.” It was scrappy, ambitious, and entirely self-produced. I led everything from research and scripting to editing and promotion, while staying open to listener input and drawing on the advice of more seasoned storytellers in my circle. That project taught me how to shape a show arc, how to ask questions that invite—not demand—insight, and how to build a production workflow that delivers with consistency, even under tight constraints.

I brought that same audio-first mindset into institutional journalism. While at Drexel University’s student newspaper, The Triangle, I spent two years collaborating with editors and student leaders to advocate for an audio section to complement its decades-old print tradition. In 2020, I co-founded Tri-Pod (short for “Triangle Podcasting”), became its first Podcast Editor, and worked alongside a small team to launch “Last Call”—an interview program that became the paper’s first official podcast series. That experience taught me how to work inside a legacy structure, how to align creative vision with organizational realities, and how to lead a team to launch something entirely new—on deadline, and with editorial integrity intact.

Then came the pandemic. Isolated like everyone else, I launched “Shadow Gallery Seminars”—an experimental remote podcast exploring global issues, sustainability, and how we move forward as a society. The project deepened my understanding of remote collaboration, and I drew on a wide network of contributors and colleagues who brought diverse lenses and emotional insight. I learned how to design dialogue that didn’t just inform, but created space for reflection, quiet insight, and presence.

In 2021, shortly before getting accepted to UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism, I launched “For The Community / The Aut Cast,” a multi-platform series focused on amplifying autistic voices and lived experience. As creator and host, I led production while building trust with contributors across a spectrum of identities. Sensitive topics required care and humility, and I regularly sought feedback from neurodivergent peers and advocacy groups to ensure episodes honored the complexity of their experiences. One of my most formative moments came during a two-part interview with Dr. Temple Grandin. That conversation challenged me to balance structure and flow, to lead without overpowering, and to create space for vulnerability without compromising journalistic integrity.

In 2022, as part of my Master’s work at UC Berkeley, I developed “This American Divide”—a forward-looking multimedia thesis exploring the complexities of social media and political polarization. The project wove together longform narrative, original interviews, podcast segments, and photography to examine how legal, psychological, political, and journalistic forces drive division in the digital age. I was fortunate to collaborate with faculty mentors and fellow reporters throughout the process, whose insight and critique made the final project sharper and more balanced. It earned recognition from mentors with deep roots in investigative, tech, and political journalism for its foresight and commitment to multi-voice storytelling. It became the editorial foundation for what would later evolve into “divided.” at AfroLA.

Like many independent podcasts from that era, much of my earlier work has since gone offline as platforms shifted and projects concluded. But what remains is the foundation it gave me: a deep understanding of how to shape sound into narrative, how to layer reporting with creative direction, and how to build editorial systems that honor both journalistic rigor and the listener’s experience.

At time of writing, I lead “divided.” at AfroLA as Host and Executive Producer—a narrative investigative series exploring the intersections of AI, democracy, and cultural memory. I oversee the editorial arc in close collaboration with AfroLA’s editorial team, drawing on every skill I’ve developed along the way: the precision of a sound engineer, the perspective of a storyteller, the intuition of an interviewer, and the systems-thinking of an investigative reporter.

My journey has taken me from the solitude of a recording booth at age ten to the collaborative complexity of newsrooms, classrooms, community projects, and investigative studios. Along the way, I’ve learned not only to master the tools of sound, but to wield them with intent—to sharpen my reporting instincts, to interrogate power with care, and to build trust through truth. I’ve built my career at the intersection of research and narrative, of independent voice and collaborative inquiry. As I look ahead, I remain grounded in the same core conviction that started me on this path: journalism must hold systems accountable, center marginalized voices, and help audiences understand the forces that shape their lives. Audio is the medium I know best—but integrity, curiosity, and truth are the mission I serve. And wherever that mission leads, I intend to follow it with clarity, rigor, and collective strength.