Author Bios

Mason Adams wrote this article for YES! Magazine. Mason has covered Blue Ridge and Appalachian communities since 2001. He lives in Floyd County, Virginia, with his family, goats, chickens, dogs, and cats. 

Kaitlin joined the Center for Responsive Politics as a fall reporting intern in August 2018. She is in her senior year at the Missouri School of Journalism where she …

Dr. Greg Witkowski is a senior lecturer in the Nonprofit Management Program at Columbia University.

Michelle Meyer is the Associate Executive Director of the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center and an Assistant Professor in the Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning Department at Texas A&M …

Jeff Hermanson is an organizer who has worked since 1977 with the ILGWU (later UNITE), Carpenters, Writers Guild, and AFL-CIO Solidarity Center. He is currently working with the International …

Katelyn Burns is an independent journalist and columnist for MSNBC and Xtra Magazine. She was the first ever openly trans Capitol Hill reporter in U.S. history. She co-hosts the Cancel …

Kandi White is a mother, a wife and a woman fighting for environmental and climate justice in her community and beyond in the protection of the sacred, and a …

Julie Bates is a 22-year postal worker at the Des Moines, Iowa post office. 

Alexandra Heal is The Bureau of Investigative Journalism's Google News Initiative fellow.

Natalie Jones is a contributor at The Bureau of Investigative Journalism.