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I grew up in Austin and studied journalism at the University of Texas. I began my radio career making fun of headlines on local sports and news talk shows. I moved to New York City to be a comic. Found some pretty good "day jobs” managing a daily news radio show for the Wall Street Journal and later, producing business news for Bloomberg Television. Upon returning to Austin, I dabbled in many things, including hosting nights and weekends on KUT and producing nightly TV news. Now I’m waking up early to make Morning Edition on KUT even better than it already is.

Leyla McCalla is a founding member of Our Native Daughters and alumna of the GRAMMY award-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops. Leyla's work unearthing history and musical tradition, combined with her knowledge of cultural hybridization and her own identity as a Haitian American have given her a unique voice and perspective. Her music reflects her eclectic and diverse life experiences, projecting respect for eloquent simplicity that is rarely achieved.

Esther Yoon-Ji Kang is a reporter on the Race, Class and Communities desk. Previously, she was the communications manager for the University of Chicago Institute of Politics (IOP). Before her work with the IOP, Esther was an editor at Chicago magazine, where she reported, wrote, edited, photographed, designed and produced award-winning stories for the website and print magazine. Prior to Chicago magazine, she worked as a breaking news producer for chicagotribune.com, latimes.com and other Tribune Company news sites. Aside from her work on the Web, Esther has covered the Chicago Public Schools and juvenile court beats and has written for various publications. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Northwestern University and has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in the journalism school.

May is a Texas native who came to New Mexico to begin her professional career as a journalist in early 2017. She previously worked as a technology and healthcare reporter with Albuquerque Business First and has held various internships with newspapers around the country.May joined KUNM's Public Health New Mexico team in early 2018. While print news has been her livelihood since her college days, she sees radio as a more intimate way to provide a platform for underrepresented voices.

Adam Reilly is a reporter at WGBH-TV's Greater Boston. Before joining WGBH, he covered media and politics for the Boston Phoenix. He is a graduate of Carleton College and Harvard Divinity School.

Lauren Silverman is the Health, Science & Technology reporter/blogger at KERA News. She is also the primary backup host for KERA’s Think and the statewide newsmagazine Texas Standard. In 2016, Lauren was recognized as Texas Health Journalist of the Year by the Texas Medical Association. She was part of the Peabody Award-winning team that covered Ebola for NPR in 2014. She also hosted "Surviving Ebola," a special that won Best Long Documentary honors from the Public Radio News Directors Inc. (PRNDI). And she's won a number of regional awards, including an honorable mention for Edward R. Murrow award (for her project “The Broken Hip”), as well as the Texas Veterans Commission’s Excellence in Media Awards in the radio category.

Chuck Smith brings more than 30 years' experience to Red River Radio having started out as a radio news reporter and moving into television journalism as a newsmagazine producer / host, talk-show moderator, programming director and managing producer and news director / anchor for commercial, public broadcasting and educational television. He has more recently worked in advertising, marketing and public relations as a writer, video producer and media consultant. In pursuit of higher learning, Chuck studied Mass Communications at Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia and motion picture / television production at the University of California at Los Angeles. He has also taught writing for television at York Technical College in Rock Hill, South Carolina and video / film production at Centenary College of Louisiana, Shreveport.