Sandy Close, Executive Editor and Director, New America Media/Pacific News Service - Sandy has served as Executive Director of Pacific News Service since 1974. One of the first regular commentators for Morning Edition in the mid 1980s, in 1990 she founded YO! Youth Outlook, a monthly magazine of youth writing and art in 1991, and co-founded in The Beat Within, a weekly writing journal by incarcerated youth in 1996. That same year, she founded New California Media to bring greater visibility to the content of ethnic news organizations. Today, New America Media is the largest editorial and marketing collaboration of ethnic media in the U.S. A graduate of UC Berkeley, Sandy started her journalism career in Hong Kong in the mid 1960s as China editor of The Far Eastern Economic Review. Returning to the US, she founded an inner-city newspaper in Oakland, CA called The Flatlands and spent five years writing about prison and criminal justice issues before joining PNS. Among many awards, Sandy received a MacArthur Foundation "Genius Award” and the 2011 Polk Award for Career Achievement. In 1996, a film she co-produced, Breathing Lessons, won the Academy Award for best short documentary. Anthony D. Advincula, Editor and Media Organizer, NY office Oni writes about education, health, immigration, urban affairs, politics and government. He was the communications director and managing editor for the Independent Press Association of New York. He has won several journalism awards for his investigative and in-depth reporting on housing, labor and immigration issues for The Jersey Journal, and when he was editor-in-chief of The Filipino Express. David Bacon, Associate Editor A photographer since the 1980s, journalist and former labor organizer, David specializes in portraying the struggles and lives of workers. His work has appeared in the L.A. Weekly, the San Francisco Chronicle, and The Nation, among other publications, and in various exhibits and books. Marcelo Ballve, Contributing Editor, NY office Marcelo writes on immigration, national affairs and Latin America. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The L.A. Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, and The Baltimore Sun, among others. He also contributes regularly to the New York Daily News on arts and culture. He is a former AP reporter and editor in their Brazil and Caribbean bureaus. Raj Jayadev, Executive Editor, Silicon Valley De-Bug Raj is the coordinator and founder of Silicon Valley De-Bug, a community organizing and multi-media youth organization based in San Jose, California. De-Bug produces a bi-lingual magazine, a weekly radio show and weekly television show to provide a platform for the South Bay's least heard voices -- low-wage workers, the homeless, the formerly incarcerated, undocumented immigrants, and other communities on the margins of the Valley. Irma D. Herrera, Editor at New America Media Irma writes about social justice issues. She is a civil rights lawyer with over 30 years experience and worked at MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund) and META (Multicultural Education Training and Advocacy) where she represented Latino and immigrant communities on a range of issues from access to education to voting rights. Prior to joining New America Media she served as the Executive Director of San Francisco’s Equal Rights Advocates (ERA) for almost 15 years. ERA promotes equal and fair treatment for women and girls in employment and educational institutions through public education, legislative advocacy and litigation. Odette Alcazaren-Keeley, Radio News Anchor/TV Producer Odette Alcazaren-Keeley hosts and produces NAM's public radio newscast, "Stories from the Ethnic Media" on "New America Now". She also anchors NAM's monthly TV show, "New America Now" on Comcast On Demand. Odette was also the former news executive producer and talk show co-anchor for ABS-CBN International, The Filipino Channel in the Bay Area, and was a TV reporter/producer/head writer for more than 8 years for the station's parent broadcasting company, ABS-CBN Channel 2 in Manila. Paul Kleyman, Assoc. Director, Ethnic Elders Paul is the national coordinator of the Journalists Network on Generations, a group of 1,100 journalists who cover issues in aging. For 20 years he was the editor of Aging Today, newspaper of the American Society on Aging Andrew Lam, Writer/Media Monitor Andrew is a syndicated writer and an editor with New America Media, a short story writer, and a frequent radio commentator. His essays have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the New York Times, The LA Times, and the San Francisco Chronicle. Andrew has won multiple literary and journalism awards and is author of “Perfume Dreams: Reflections on the Vietnamese Diaspora.” Aruna Lee, Reporter/Media Monitor Aruna is a reporter covering issues related to Korea and the Korean American community. Her stories have been published in the SF Chronicle, AsianWeek, Oakland tribune and Tri-Valley Herald. She has been monitoring Korean media for NAM since 2003. Russell Morse, Contributing Writer Russell started writing at fifteen while a resident of San Francisco's Youth Guidance Center. In the years since he has covered school shootings, youth riots in France, juvenile justice reform, issues along the US/Mexico border and three presidential elections. His work has appeared in Rolling Stone Magazine and The San Francisco Chronicle and online at Salon.com. Louis V Nevaer, Contributing Writer Louis is one of the nation's leading authorities on Hispanics. He is the author of more than a dozen books. Ngoc Nguyen, Environment Editor/Media Monitor/Writer Ngoc worked as an environment reporter for the Sacramento Bee. She was also editor of NHA Magazine, a national bilingual Vietnamese American publication in California. She has reported for Pacifica Radio since 2001, from South Korea, Vietnam, and Hong Kong. Earl Ofari Hutchinson, Contributing Writer Earl Ofari is a noted author of nine books about the African American experience in America. His numerous published articles appear in newspapers and magazines across the country as well as some of the most popular web sites on the Internet. He is a radio host and TV commentator. Mr. Hutchinson has received several awards for his writings. Richard Rodriguez, Contributing Writer and Editor NBCC Award finalist, BABRA Gold Medal Recipient for nonfiction category, and Frederic G. Melcher Book Award winner Richard is one of the most provocative, writers of our time. As a Catholic, gay, Mexican-American, he has examined his private life as it intersects with public issues. He is a contributing writer and editor at New America Media, a contributing editor for Harper’s magazine and the Sunday Opinion Section of the Los Angeles Times. For many years he was an essayist on the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on PBS. Elena Shore, MediaMonitor/Editor Elena is an editor, Latino media monitor and translator for NAM. She graduated from Oberlin College in Spanish and Latin American Studies in 2001. She has written articles on immigration and Latino issues in English and Spanish, and monitorsand translates stories from the Spanish-language press. Her work has appeared in Latino media outlets including La Opinion, La Raza and El Mensajero. Viji Sundaram, Health Editor/Writer Before joining NAM in 2006 Viji was a general assignment reporter with India-West, a national weekly published in San Leandro, CA. While there, Viji won eight journalism awards, five from the South Asian Journalism Association and three from New California Media.