About

ASSOCIATE AUDIENCE EDITOR

Amanda is a multimedia journalist covering health, science, and climate. She loves chatting about effective science communication and fighting misinformation online. She has a BA in Global Liberal Studies from NYU and an MA from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.

TV Engagement Coordinator

David Dickson is an award-winning meteorologist and science journalist. During his time in broadcast television, he covered hurricanes, tornadoes, and other extreme weather events and highlighted ongoing impacts of climate change on the southeastern US. Before joining Covering Climate Now, he also led media communications for South Carolina’s largest museum. David holds a BS in Meteorology from North Carolina State University.

LOCAL TELEVISION ENGAGEMENT MANAGER

Elena González is an award-winning journalist with extensive experience in online and broadcast media, working in text, video, and audio. She built and led the pioneering investigative and podcasts unit at NBCUniversal Telemundo. Previously, she was based in North Africa reporting and producing for VICE, Antena 3 TV, Onda Cero Radio, El Confidencial, and Eldiario. She covered the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and the Middle East conflict from the field. She loves canyons, baobabs, cats, dogs, and pelicans and can’t live without music. Follow Elena on Twitter.

CO-FOUNDER & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Anna is a journalist who reports, photographs, and edits. Previously, she was the executive digital editor at The Nation magazine and the co-founder and editorial director of The War Horse, a nonprofit newsroom focusing on the military and veterans. She was the digital journalist for “The Truth About Trees,” a National Science Foundation and MacArthur Foundation–funded documentary project. Follow Anna on Twitter.

PROJECT COORDINATOR

Natalie has worked with zero waste and investigative research organizations exploring the links between broad political movements, local justice initiatives, and climate change mitigation. Previously, she examined far-right movements in the US and studied sustainable social cooperatives in Italy. An avid reader, writer, and enthusiast of justice-centered journalism, she earned her BA in History at Wellesley College.

ENGAGEMENT DIRECTOR

Mekdela Maskal is passionate about community participation in journalism. Prior to joining Covering Climate Now, she launched THE CITY’s ongoing Open Newsroom project, an initiative that brought communities and journalists together in public libraries to build trust and make reporting a more collaborative process. She’s earned a B.S. in Media, Communications and Culture from NYU and an M.A. in Engaged Journalism from CUNY. All of her favorite things to do are outside with the earth, gardening, practicing archery, hiking and swimming. Follow Mekdela on Twitter.

DEPUTY DIRECTOR

Andrew is a journalist and writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Nation, and the Columbia Journalism Review, where he was a Delacorte Magazine Fellow, among other outlets. Andrew helped launch Covering Climate Now in 2019 and additionally serves on the adjunct faculty of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. He is a US Navy veteran. Follow Andrew on Twitter.

Co-founder & Executive Director of Strategic Initiatives

Kyle has been editor and publisher of the Columbia Journalism Review and is a co-founder of Covering Climate Now. Before CJR, he was editor-in-chief of the New York Observer, deputy editor of Conde Nast’s Portfolio magazine, and a longtime editor and reporter for The Wall Street Journal.

AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT EDITOR

Theresa Riley oversees all of CCNow’s public facing content on social media platforms. She’s dedicated to helping news organizations tell the climate story and engage audiences to create a better informed, climate-literate public. She is an award-winning web producer, editor, and writer whose work has been featured on PBS Online, the TED blog, Ms. Magazine, and TIME.com. Previously, she was the director of digital content and strategy at BillMoyers.com and vice president of digital content and strategy at POV, a documentary film series on PBS. She developed new strategies for informing and engaging the public online, earning numerous accolades, including the Webby Award, the Online News Association Award for General Excellence, the Knight-Batten Award for Innovative Journalism and the Parent’s Choice Award.

Director of Training

Santiago Sáez is a climate journalist. He helped create Climática, the first professional climate news site in Spain, becoming its first editor-in-chief. He has also worked at Climate Tracker, where he mentored dozens of young journalists from around the world as they ventured into reporting the world’s biggest story: climate change. Before that, he obtained a MA in Journalism, Media and Globalisation from Aarhus University (Denmark) and City University London (UK), and an BA in Journalism from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain). Based in Seville, Spain, Santiago is an avid reader of noir literature, an appreciator of punk rock, and an enthusiastic scuba diver.

Partnership Engagement Coordinator

Lili has worked with marine conservation and climate change mitigation organizations in Fiji, Micronesia, and Palau. They also worked on sustainable agriculture on farms and ranches across the United States. Lili earned BAs in Philosophy and Comparative Literature at UNC Chapel Hill where they were a Morehead-Cain Scholar. Lili is happiest on camping trips with their dogs, reading classical epic poetry, diving with sharks, and living mindfully.