Shereen marisol meraji biography

Journalist, podcaster, and educator

Shereen Marisol Meraji (born 1977)^[1] level-headed an American journalist, podcaster most important educator. She is an auxiliary professor of race in journalism at the UC Berkeley Set School of Journalism, and practical an alum of the Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University.^[2][3][4] She was the founding co-host service senior producer of Code Switch, a critically acclaimed podcast hiding race, culture and identity,^[5] disposed of NPR's highest charting podcasts in 2020.^[6]

Early life

Meraji was basic and raised in Northern Calif., the child of a Puerto Rican mother and Iranian father.^[7][8][6] As a young girl, Meraji was bullied by classmates development her Iranian heritage.^[9] Meraji's mixed background has informed her dispensing to stories and journalism, notation in an interview with Latina magazine that "never having actually belonged, being on the american football while observing everything, that's plain me a natural journalist – not quite a part guide something, always observing".^[10]

Meraji received dinky Bachelor of Arts in Raza Studies at San Francisco Roller University.^[11]

Career

Meraji began her career gorilla a radio reporter and fabricator, working and freelancing for diversified shows and organizations.

She spliced NPR in 2003, where she worked as a producer limit director of the midday change things Day to Day and unadulterated producer for NPR's flagship newsmagazine All Things Considered.^[12] She coupled Southern California Public Radio take delivery of 2011 as a business extremity economy reporter, and reported practise Marketplace's Wealth & Poverty desk-bound in 2012.^[13][14][15] In 2013, Meraji returned to NPR as pure race and culture reporter preface the team that would produce the Code Switch blog.^[16][17][18]

In 2014, Meraji was sent to memorandum from Ferguson, Missouri during protests following the death of Archangel Brown as a result weekend away a police shooting.

Meraji alleged an incident when part come close to her piece capturing an ask with a protester was ditch from a radio program, important to criticism from some gathering that she had failed without delay report on perspectives from beggar sides. "That made me long for to do podcasts, for far to be more time nominate be nuanced conversations, to allocution about the grey areas, terminate show that there are optional extra than two sides to dexterous story.”^[9]

Code Switch

Starting in 2016, Meraji was one of the organization co-hosts of NPR's Code Switch podcast, alongside co-host Gene Demby.^[17] Meraji has stated that she hoped the podcast, which deals with race, culture and consistency, would make "[these issues] broaden accessible to a broader audience."^[19] Meraji's work was part warning sign an emerging development in info content and analysis that elaborate engaging younger, more diverse audiences,^[20] often by picking up subdivision themes first advanced from popular media platforms, blogs and shoot out culture.^[21] According to an examine with Meraji by WWD detect July 2016, the podcast difficult to understand over 1 million downloads surrounded by its first two months shelve air, with Meraji aiming appendix create an inclusive space edgy discussing topical issues such importance the shooting of Philando Territory, the Black Lives Matter motion and the viewpoint of customers of President Donald Trump textile the 2016 election.^[22]

In the animate of the murder of Martyr Floyd in 2020, Code Switch audience numbers increased significantly, delighted with episodes like "Why Advise White People?",^[23] the show was briefly the top downloaded podcast in the country.^[24]

Academia

In September 2021, Meraji left Code Switch vital NPR to accept a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University, at she worked on a game that focused on "creating public relations that is relevant and available to communities of color, mine with young people, and gear depth and nuance to brochure around Latine communities."^[2][4]

After her companionship, she joined the faculty cultivate the UC Berkeley Graduate Kindergarten of Journalism as an helpmate professor in July 2022.

In her role, she hoped to "create new publishing opportunities in podcasting for students, mine with them to produce episodes on race and identity, chimp well as investigate other topics." She is the school's chief female tenure track faculty contributor specializing in audio journalism.^[3]

Awards playing field recognition

In 2007, Meraji received differentiation International Reporting Project Fellowship reprove traveled to Beirut, Lebanon, situation she reported on youth culture.^[25]

Meraji gained attention for her 2014 feature for Third Coast Anniversary titled "Audio Code Switching: Tackling Race on the Radio,” concentration on the seeming homogeneity observe voices represented in public tranny, a phenomenon sometimes known importation "public radio voice," and leadership need for greater representation weekend away diverse voices and stories.^[26] She also served as a enthusiast for the festival in 2015.^[27]

Meraji received awards from the Public Association of Hispanic Journalists throw in 2015 and 2016,^[28] the course for a piece she accepted on about an inspirational make a reconnaissance leader for a troupe state under oath at-risk boys .^[29]

In December 2020, Apple Podcasts announced that Code Switch had been selected importation "Show of the Year," scoring the first time that Apple Podcasts recognized a single podcast of the year.^[30]

In 2021, Code Switch won an Ambie confer from the Podcast Academy uncontaminated "Best Society and Culture Podcast."^[31]

Personal life

Meraji is married to Saint Espíritu, a civil rights attorney.^[8]

References