Mariana Dale

I’m a journalist who tells stories through audio, the written word and in the digital space. I want my work to make public policy tangible, inspire curiosity and give people a reason to pay attention in the community around them and those farther away.

I’ve reported on early childhood education at KPCC, LA’s #1 NPR station and LAist.com since November 2019.

Previously I worked for KJZZ, the NPR member station in Phoenix. My work has also aired on NPR’s Morning Edition, NPR.org and Here & Now.

I’m a proud mentor in the Next Generation Radio Project which finds, coaches and trains up-and-coming public media journalists.

I previously reported and edited digital coverage for Tucson’s NPR affiliate, Arizona Public Media. There I was the inside collaborator for  Dímelo: Stories of the Southwest, a project of AIR’s Localore: Finding America. Basically, an effort to bring new, more diverse, vibrant stories to public media.

In college, I interned at newsrooms of all sizes from a hyper-local online start-up to NPR’s West-Coast headquarters in Culver City, California. The summer I graduated coincided with an unprecedented influx in unaccompanied immigrant children from Central America. I covered the issue as a Pulliam Fellow for the Arizona Republic and was part of a team honored with the Hillman Prize for our work. I also reported on county government and K-12 education for the Arizona Daily Star, Arizona’s second-largest daily paper.

I am eternally grateful for the mentoring of The New York Times Student Journalism Institute, the Chips Quinn Scholars Program, AIR’s New Voices and the Dow Jones Multimedia Training Institute.

Outside of journalism, I’m a serial hobbyist. Find me at a Latin dance or yoga class, the climbing gym, hiking, with my nose in a book, a podcast in my ears or a cup of coffee in my hand.