The L.A. Times welcomes its Class of 2023 summer interns
The following announcement was sent on behalf of Assistant Managing Editor for Culture and Talent Angel Jennings and Deputy Editor for Culture and Talent Joseph Serna:
In our era of digital media, the sights, sounds and words we decide to use in our storytelling are as vital to our journalistic mission as the information-gathering itself.
It’s in that spirit that we’re proud to announce three inaugural intern positions for this upcoming summer class.
We will have our first Henry Fuhrmann Multiplatform Editing intern, created in collaboration with AAJA-LA in honor of our late newsroom copy editing chief and champion. Ananya Thyagarajan will be a multiplatform editing intern and is a recent graduate of UC Berkeley, where she led the copy desk at the campus newspaper. We also will have our first reporting intern with our new Latino vertical. Mariana Trujillo Valdes, a rising junior at American University, will be joining our Latino Initiatives team as a reporter later this month. Lastly, we’ll be bringing on a community engagement intern later this summer.
Each of these interns along with the dozens more introduced below underline The Times’ unwavering commitment to bringing up the next generation of journalists dedicated to telling the stories that matter most.
The Los Angeles Times recognizes its role in the journalism ecosystem and is welcoming 29 interns in 2023, composed of 19 positions funded by the company and another 10 from outside organizations and universities. One started last month and the rest will begin to join our newsroom over the next several weeks.
We selected this year’s contingent, including 15 interns from California schools, from more than 750 applications from across the country and abroad.
Starting May 30, the first big wave of summer interns will arrive in our virtual newsroom. We will host opportunities to welcome them over Zoom and in person.
The Class of 2023 summer interns include emerging journalists who have honed their craft reporting, shooting, editing and designing stories from coast to coast and on multiple continents. They will bring their perspectives to virtually all corners of our newsroom, including audience, Opinion, Metro, national politics, design and Data and Graphics.
Interns covering local news and sports and capturing California in video and photo will be based in the Golden State. Others will help us find new audiences, tell stories and design graphics from around the country.
The interns are paid to work and train alongside some of the best journalists in the world. Most will be with The Times for 10 weeks.
Please join us in welcoming our 2023 summer class:
Akiya Dillon is a rising senior at Duke University, where she studies political science, English and journalism. While writing for the 9th Street Journal’s Courthouse Project, Dillon realized her passion for criminal justice and storytelling. Earlier this year, she also worked as a communications intern for a supportive-housing nonprofit in Durham, N.C. For fun, she enjoys collecting sneakers, trying new restaurants and binging Netflix docuseries. As a Las Vegas native, Dillon is thrilled to return to the West Coast this summer. She will join Metro on June 12.
Alan Nguyen is an upcoming graduate of Oregon State University, where he majors in design and innovation management as well as business analytics with a focus in digital marketing. He grew up in Portland and is passionate about creating content, design and marketing. At OSU, Nguyen serves as the creative lead of Orange Media Network and manages a team of designers and content creators who produce advertising and visual content for publications including the student-run newspaper, the Daily Barometer; fashion magazine, DAMChic; lifestyle magazine and Beaver’s Digest. In this role, Nguyen was awarded first place for Best Graphic Designer in the nation by both the Associated Collegiate Press and the College Media Business & Advertising Managers organization. When he’s not producing content, Nguyen enjoys listening to Vietnamese music, cooking meals with friends and binging reality TV. He is excited to join The Times as an Audience Engagement intern June 26.
Ananya Thyagarajan is a recent graduate of UC Berkeley, where she studied public health and society and environment. In college, she worked for the Daily Californian, the campus newspaper, where she served as the head of the copy desk. She is passionate about reducing environmental health inequities through investigative journalism, and hopes to contribute to this work as a copy editor. In her free time, she enjoys trivia, taking long walks and making niche Spotify playlists. She joins The Times as a multiplatform editing intern June 26.
Anna Braz grew up in New York City and will soon graduate from Occidental College, having majored in critical theory and social justice. Her passion for storytelling has driven her to pursue diverse experiences in journalism and media. As an editorial intern at Axios last summer, Braz covered topics including fast fashion, female artist representation in museums and the effect of plants on mental health. She freelanced for the Southampton Press and worked as a writer and photographer for her college newspaper, the Occidental. Braz also interned at acclaimed documentary production companies Story Syndicate and Little Monster Films, where she learned many aspects of the filmmaking process. When she’s not captivated by a good documentary, Braz can be found with a 35mm camera, people-watching, reading, playing tennis or engrossed in a true crime podcast. Her newest obsessions, however, are her two feline companions. She joins The Times on June 12 as an intern with the Features desk.
Anthony Chen is a recent first-generation graduate from Cornell University, where he studied sociology and Asian American studies. He worked as a reporter at his campus newspaper, the Cornell Daily Sun. Last summer, he interned at the Washington Post on the copy desk. Chen was also a White House intern for the Biden-Harris administration in the fall of 2022. His favorite music artists are Beyoncé, Lana Del Rey, Red Velvet and Zerobaseone. He is an avid sunscreen user. Chen is a proud Chinese American from New York City and is beyond excited to join The Times as a digital intern on the News Desk on May 30. @anthony___chen
Ariel Smith is a soon-to-be graduate of the University of Nevada, Reno, where she is studying journalism. She previously interned with KUNR and the Mitch Hitchcock Project as a climate change reporter and has worked as a community reporter with Our Town Reno. When she isn’t reporting she can be found skydiving, traveling the U.S. or exploring the outdoors. She is passionate about multimedia stories and long-form journalism. She starts as a Business intern June 12 through a partnership with her university.
Camryn Brewer is an Atlanta native, but she is also bound at heart to Detroit, New York City and Los Angeles because her family is her home. A USC student pursuing her bachelor’s degree in narrative studies and minors in news and information innovation and Spanish, she is passionate about the cultural history underneath contemporary creative productions. She credits her work as a multimedia journalist at Annenberg Media for translating her trained experience with the essay form into journalism coverage of culture, art, and entertainment. Brewer is currently obsessed with early-morning yoga, midday coffee and afternoon reading in the sunniest spot she can find. She is thrilled to uncover the gems of the Los Angeles food scene when she joins The Times as an intern with Food on June 19. @Brewer1818
Cari Spencer is a recent graduate of USC, where she studied journalism and sociology. She is originally from the suburbs of Minneapolis but has been fully won over by the California sun. Currently, she reports about Los Angeles Unified for the 74 and LA School Report. In the past, she reported data-driven stories about crime and housing for Crosstown L.A., helped edit and publish stories for the Spectrum News 1 digital team and served as a news editor for the Daily Trojan, USC’s student newspaper. When she’s not reporting, you can find her hiking around Los Angeles, teaching herself guitar for the fourth time (she swears it will stick this time) and giving in to her smoothie addiction. She’s excited to join the Fast Break Desk as an intern June 26. @cspence1919
Charlotte Kramon is a Los Angeles native and rising senior at Duke University, where she is pursuing a degree in public policy and certificate in policy journalism and media studies. She is passionate about criminal justice and economic inequity. She works at the 9th Street Journal, where she writes about criminal justice and local politics. She received the 2022 Fischer-Zernin Award for Local Journalism for an investigative piece she wrote for 9th Street. She has also been published in IndyWeek and worked at the Charlotte Observer in the summer of 2022. She is thrilled to cover her own city, with all of its complexities, as an intern in Metro starting May 30 through a partnership with Duke. When she’s not reporting, you can find Kramon at music festivals, the gym, or on a hike.
Dana Chiueh was born in New York and raised in Taiwan. This year, she will graduate from Stanford University with a bachelor’s degree in computer science. Her interest in exploring technology in journalism has led her to work as a journalist product manager for Herald/Review Media in Sierra Vista, Ariz.; conduct investigative data analysis for Insider and the Dallas Morning News; and most recently, receive recognition from the Reynolds Journalism Institute for developing a generative AI-powered news tipline. She has reported on school surveillance, prison conditions and police misconduct. Outside of journalism, Chiueh enjoys vegetable gardening, costume designing and working on her first poetry collection. She joins the Data and Graphics desk June 26 through Stanford’s Rebele fellowship.
Devon Milley is a recent graduate of the University of Maryland with bachelor’s degrees in journalism and information science. While at UMD, she found community at the Diamondback, where she worked as a copy editor, engagement editor, managing editor and eventually, editor in chief. She credits the Diamondback with not only providing an opportunity to work on impactful stories and projects but also giving her the support she needed to make mistakes and learn from them. Milley discovered a passion for data journalism through her work the past year with the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism. There, she’s worked on both data analysis and data engineering. This summer, Milley plans to spend her free time puzzling and improving her lackluster cooking skills. She’s excited to join the Data and Graphics desk June 12.
Diya Sabharwal is a writer from New Delhi, India. She is a sophomore at Stanford University and is majoring in English and computer science. Sabharwal has written for the Times of India NIE, the Roadrunner Review, the Delhi Poetry Slam and more. She serves as desk editor of Opinions at the Stanford Daily. Outside of journalism, Sabharwal serves as vice president at the Business Assn. of Stanford Entrepreneurial Students (BASES), works on software design projects, and loves literary and film theory. In her free time, she loves long walks and runs and scouring Spotify for obscure new musicians. Sabharwal will join The Times as an Editorial Pages intern starting June 26 through Stanford’s Rebele fellowship. @diyasabh
Drake Presto is a recent graduate of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University and Barrett, the Honors College. While in school, he worked as a visual journalist with the State Press; the independent student-operated news publication of ASU, Cronkite News; the news division of Arizona PBS; and the Arizona Republic, the state’s largest newspaper. Presto is a recipient of the SPJ National Mark of Excellence for Online Sports Videography and the Regional Mark of Excellence for General News Photography for his work at the State Press. He has also won first place in the Hearst Multimedia Narrative Storytelling Competition for his documentary on the immigration crisis in Tapachula, Mexico. Presto’s most recent work documenting cross-strait tensions between Taiwan and China won a Gold Standard Award for Outstanding Thesis by his university. When he isn’t lost in the depth of video-editing software, he can be found dancing at a local studio, skateboarding around the city or thrifting for another vintage sweatshirt. He’s thrilled to join the Video team as an intern June 12. @drakepresto
Emerson Drewes is an incoming senior at the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno, where she studies journalism. Since her freshman year, Drewes has been a dedicated reporter and contributor to the student newspaper, the Nevada Sagebrush. Since then, she has worked her way up in the organization and now serves as the editor in chief. Through her time at the Sagebrush, she has secured internships at the National Judicial College, Las Vegas Review-Journal and now The Times. Growing up in Las Vegas, she developed an affinity for business reporting being a local of an ever-evolving and advancing city. She is absolutely ecstatic to be joining the newsroom this summer as the Business reporting intern starting June 12 through a partnership with her university.
Emma Fox is a passionate writer who is pursuing journalism at Loyola Marymount University. She is the president of her school’s chapter of both the National Assn. of Hispanic Journalists and the Society of Professional Journalists. She worked as an intern for the San Diego Voice and Viewpoint and her story on environmental racism made it to the cover. She is dedicated to discovering overlooked stories and finding creative ways to tell them. Being from the Bay Area, she enjoys nature and thrives on foggy days. She is a music fanatic who has a blog devoted to writing about music and the journalists who put it into context for the masses. She is elated to be joining the Utility Journalism team June 26. IG: @emma.a.fox
Francesca Bermudez is a senior journalism major and film studies minor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. She has written 44 articles for the Los Angeles Loyolan, where she has worked as assistant life+arts editor, copy editor and news contributor. One of her proudest moments was launching “The Self-Care Series,†a student interview series centered on mental health, during the early pandemic. In 2022, she was a finalist for a Los Angeles Press Club National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Award. This May, she will be attending the Dow Jones News Fund’s multiplatform editing training at the University of Texas, Austin. In her free time, she enjoys watching live music and spending time with friends. She joins The Times as an intern on the multiplatform editing desk June 12. @francescaberm
Gina Errico is a recent graduate of Oklahoma State University, where she received her master’s degree in plant biology. She received her bachelor’s of science degree in biology and anthropology from the College of New Jersey in May 2020. Before graduate school, Errico took a year off to work as an AmeriCorps member, where she ran community outreach events and wrote articles about the importance of tree planting and urban conservation. Errico’s graduate research investigated the effects of the fragmentation by coffee plantations on tree seedling survival in nearby tropical forests in Costa Rica. From this, she began writing about the intersections of science and humanities and is interested in how human-induced change affects ecosystems globally. As a mass media fellow with AAAS, Errico is excited to join The Times on June 12 and continue to report on pressing issues in science and society.
Gisselle Medina (they/them), a proud Latino and queer individual, was born in L.A., raised in Fresno and has found a home in Berkeley. They received their bachelor of arts degree in English from UC Berkeley in 2022 and are currently pursuing a master’s degree at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. At Berkeley, Medina hones their skills in investigative and multimedia journalism, with the goal of producing interactive stories that reflect our dynamic world. Their work has been published in the Daily Californian, Greater Good Science Center, the Oaklandside, the Frisc and much more. They are a 2023 White House Correspondent Assn. scholarship recipient and will be part of NAHJ’s Student Project, reporting for the Latino Reporter, in July. Medina is passionate about carving slices in the “stories of the moment,†through timely, in-depth reporting that provides context and centers people who are presented multidimensionally. They are beyond excited to join The Times as an intern for the Metro desk starting May 30. @gisselleemedina
Haleemon Anderson retired from teaching high school English and journalism and, at the height of the pandemic, enrolled in USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. While Zoom school was not what she’d envisioned as a peak Trojan experience, this summer she will complete her master’s degree in specialized journalism. Anderson was an award-winning student editor at L.A. City College’s publication, Collegian, before she began writing for various L.A.-based publications. She worked most recently with NBC’s Los Angeles station as a digital intern and as the South L.A. digital desk editor for Annenberg Media. She was born in New Orleans and raised on the Gulf Coast. Anderson graduated high school in the Bay Area and then moved to Los Angeles, where she has been ever since. (She may be drawn to water.) She joined Sports last month.
Malia Mendez is a journalism master’s student at Stanford University, where she also received her bachelor’s degree in English. Mendez got her start in journalism at the Stanford Daily, where she served as managing editor of the newspaper’s Arts & Life section and wrote about neurodiversity, the evolution of the romantic comedy genre and, her personal favorite, “Fearless (Taylor’s Version).†Her byline can be found in Los Angeles Magazine, the Orange County Register and the Peninsula Press. She is originally from Irvine and is excited to return to Southern California as an Entertainment and Arts intern through Stanford’s Rebele fellowship. @maliajmendez
Mariana Duran was born and raised in Guadalajara, Mexico. She’s a rising senior at Pomona College, where she majors in cognitive science and media studies. During the school year, she writes and edits for the Student Life. At the paper, she co-started a Spanish section last fall. Her work covering labor unions, COVID-19 measures and school finances has been recognized by the California College Media Assn. Duran is passionate about connecting different communities through writing, especially focusing on bilingual and Latinx spaces. Last summer, she interned at the San Luis Obispo Tribune and covered wildfires, sharks and murder trials. In her free time, she enjoys doodling, making documentaries and going on road trips with friends. Duran is thrilled to join L.A. Times en Español on May 30.
Mariana Trujillo Valdes is a native of Los Angeles and a rising junior at American University in Washington, D.C., where she studies journalism and political science. Trujillo Valdes works as the TikTok director for the Eagle, the student-run newspaper, where she helps lead social media content. She is the first TikTok director the Eagle has had. She tells stories with a strong passion for elevating perspectives that are often ignored. At the Eagle, she has written about faculty diversity at her university and health inspections in the dining hall. When she is not writing or producing, she enjoys playing volleyball, going to flea and farmer’s markets and exploring new restaurants. Trujillo Valdes is excited to return to Los Angeles this summer and report with the community that has shaped her. She joins The Times as the Latino Initiatives intern May 30. @marianaatruj
Milla Surjadi is a New York City native and rising senior at Duke University, where she studies English and journalism. She served as the editor in chief of the Chronicle, Duke’s independent student newspaper, for the past year. Surjadi has interned at the Tampa Bay Times, covering local government, and has published articles in the 9th Street Journal and Indy Week. She is perpetually excited by essay collections, dinner parties and live music, and hopes to attend many concerts this summer. She is thrilled to be joining the Metro team in L.A. when she starts June 12 through a partnership with Duke University. @millasurjadi
Miykael Stith was born in Watertown, N.Y. Early exposure to the world of news helped blaze an inevitable future for him. Stith is a recent graduate of Fort Valley State University, where he studied media studies and minored in marketing. While there, he worked as a student news intern to bring news to the community. Throughout his matriculation at Fort Valley State University, he worked for WFVS and KBTV, local stations serving the middle Georgia area. By writing his own stories as a child, Stith learned that what he says and writes has the ability to evoke emotions. He keeps this in the forefront of his mind as a journalist. He works as a social media intern with iOne Digital, where he has learned valuable skills to turn him into a media mogul. He is excited to be joining The Times on the Audience Engagement team June 12 through NAACP’s HBCU in L.A. Internship Program. IG: @MiykaelStith
Owen Tucker-Smith is a rising senior at Yale University, where he studies statistics and data science. Originally from Western Massachusetts, he got his start in journalism at 12, when he co-founded the sixth-grade news magazine — and he’s never looked back. Tucker-Smith previously covered California politics at Politico and the Sacramento Bee; before that, he wrote about housing and water issues for the Salt Lake Tribune. He was a city hall reporter and managing editor at the Yale Daily News, his student paper. Tucker-Smith loves long-distance running and his cats, and he looks forward to joining The Times on May 30 as a politics reporting intern in the Washington, D.C., bureau. @owentuckersmith
Saumya Gupta is a Los Angeles County native and a current graduate student at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism pursuing narrative and investigative writing. Before attending Berkeley, she studied psychology and communication studies at UCLA. There she was a national news and higher education reporter for the Daily Bruin and was an editor for the same beat during her junior year. You can find some of her bylines in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Pasadena Star News and Oaklandside. When she’s not writing, she spends her time listening to music, reading and enjoying the sun. Gupta is excited to join The Times as a Fast Break Desk intern May 30. @saumyaguptaa
Sophia Haydon-Khan is a rising junior at Smith College in Northampton, Mass., and grew up in Los Angeles. At Smith, she studies government and serves as assistant arts and culture editor for the Sophian. Before transferring, she worked as a content writer for Northeastern University’s music magazine Tastemakers, interviewing up-and-coming artists, reviewing albums and covering music phenomena, and was a correspondent for the Huntington News’ lifestyle section. When she isn’t writing, Haydon-Khan is probably listening to a new album or catching up on the Song Exploder or Code Switch podcasts. She is thrilled to be joining Image magazine as an intern June 12. @sophahk
Zifei Zhang is an undergraduate student at USC studying journalism with minors in communication design and digital studies. At USC’s Annenberg Media, they founded and currently manage the publication’s in-house art and design team. They also host a show diving into musical microgenres for the student radio station, KXSC. On any given day, you’ll find them listening to music at astonishingly high levels, forgetting that they already brewed a cup of tea for themselves or passionately babbling about their hometown, Chicago. They’re terrified of the Southern California heat but excited to join The Times on June 12 as a Design intern.
