About ME

I’m an award-winning reporter, audio producer, and sometime photographer who lives in San Francisco. Here are some of my favorite articles and reporting projects.

I’m a staff writer for The Frisc, an independent nonprofit online publication where I covered homelessness, including an in-depth look at the city department tasked with helping the unhoused and the ways in which it was coming up short as part of a USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism Impact Fund Fellowship in 2020.

In late 2021-2022, I was part of a USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism Data Journalism Fellowship where I looked into the contracting practices of San Francisco’s homelessness department.

I also enjoy writing about science and environmental issues, including the work to help the Sierran chorus frog make a comeback, the efforts of the city to increase its canopy of street trees, and the reservations a long-neglected SF neighborhood over a new waterfront park, which I contributed to Bay Nature and The San Francisco Public Press, where I also do some reporting.

A lot of my radio work has focused on science and environmental issues, too. I did a profile of a group trying to develop an open-source insulin for the program Making Contact. As a reporter for public radio KALW, I covered the environmental justice issues of the Cosco Busan oil spill clean up and an early look at where our plastics go.

I’ve recently turned my attention to transit issues in San Francisco, where I’ve covered the battle over keeping certain roadways closed to car traffic and delved into what it will really take to meet our climate goals in terms of rethinking how people get around the city. Transit justice was at the heart of an award-winning story about a lawsuit filed by AC Transit riders I reported and produced for KALW.

My writing and reporting has been published in The Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Times, Mother Jones, The Nation, The Progressive, Salon.com, and Wired, where I was a founding editor of Wired News. But it’s not all serious issues. I’ve covered sports, including this award-winning piece for KALW’s Crosscurrents on the Bay Area Vintage Baseball league as well as the Bay Area Pro-AM basketball league for radio and for print.

When not reporting, I head outdoors to hike, camp, and ride. I also take time to play with my dog and disc golf, sometimes at the same time. I’m also trying to learn the guitar and do amuse myself by traveling to places where I can bike and fit in time for art.

You can contact me at unazurda (at) gmail (dot) com.