KPCC adds an immigration blogger

Dear colleagues,

Please join me in welcoming Leslie Berestein Rojas to the team. Leslie will be the author of a new blog focused on immigration and emerging communities in Southern California, set to launch later this summer. SCPR is one of a dozen stations partnering with NPR on this project, which is funded by grants from the Knight Foundation and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Leslie comes to us from the San Diego Union-Tribune where she covered immigration and Latino affairs. She’s a native Spanish speaker, born in Cuba and raised in Los Angeles. She has worked at People magazine and People en Español, covered business for Time magazine, worked for the Orange County Register and the Los Angeles Times. Throughout her career Leslie has won state and regional awards, including a Society of American Business Editors and Writers, "Best in Business" award for an investigation into online pharmacies and the Ruben Salazar award from the California Chicano News Media Association for her reporting on migrant victims of the 2007 border wildfires. Her work as an immigration reporter has also led to several guest appearances on radio and television programs, including on NPR’s "Talk of the Nation" and KCRW’s "Which Way LA?"

We are extremely excited to get the opportunity to work with Leslie on this project. Leslie starts Monday, July 12. She'll be sitting next to Molly, across from Nick’s cubicle.

Thanks,
Jason K.