Meet The GoldenBlack News Team
Vanesa Acevedo-Diaz
BEAT: Lifestyle & Travel
Denika Chatman-Fields
BEAT:
Cynthia Islas
BEAT:
Karen Biermann
BEAT: Lifestyle & Education
Rae Martin
BEAT: Social Justice & Awareness
Jose Sanchez Aldana
BEAT: Politics & Sports
Topaz Wells
BEAT:
Dylan Zigmant
BEAT: Environmental Issues & Campus Current Events
Gina Baleria
Gina brings experience as a journalist, writer, and digital communications strategist to COM. She spent 15+ years in TV, radio, and multimedia, as a writer, producer, reporter, and acting news director for stations such as KCBS Radio, KCAL-TV, KXTV, and KGO Radio. Her work garnered awards from the AP, RadioInk, and RTNDA.
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Gina is also a digital communications strategist for organizations, including California Forward, CIvity, and AllSides. She received her BA in English, with emphases in film & history from UCLA, her MA in Communications: Media Studies from Stanford, and her EdD from SF State. Her digital journalism book, The Speed at Which We Travel is due in Fall 2018.
Michelle Kennedy
Michelle is a broadcast journalist, writer, actress, and media consultant. She holds an MA in Radio and Television and has more than eleven years of experience working as a TV news reporter and anchor. At KRON 4 in San Francisco, she shot, wrote, edited, and presented stories live for multiple newscasts.
Michelle is a regular contributor to HuffPost and The Elephant Journal. She published her first book, Don't Pee in the Wetsuit, in 2016. Her writing is focused around love, attachment, travel, body image, age, and dealing with loss. A member of the Screen Actors Guild, Kennedy starred in Episode 3, of Season 2, of TNT’s Murder in the First.
