We are a community of journalists, truth-tellers, organizers and justice seekers committed to delivering in-depth and thought-provoking news and analysis.
Prism is an independent and nonprofit news outlet led by journalists of color. We report from the ground up and at the intersections of injustice. Together, our journalists go where justice requires.
Activists, thought leaders, decision-makers, and all those who believe in justice for all come to Prism for deep reporting and honest insights on the most pressing injustices of our time—delivered through the lens of those who are most impacted.
Our Team
Ashton Lattimore
Editor-in-chief
Ashton is an accomplished writer and editor—and recovering lawyer—whose work focuses on the intersection of race, culture, and law. Her writing has been published by The Washington Post, Slate magazine, CNN, and others. In 2021, she was named a Maynard 200 fellow. She received a B.A. in English from Harvard College, an M.S. in Journalism from Columbia, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School, where she was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. She lives in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.
Caitlin Lejarzar Gaffin
chief Operating officer
Caitlin is a nonprofit strategy and operations leader and reproductive health, rights, and justice activist whose work focuses on rethinking the traditional ways in which we organize and build power. As a consultant, they’ve helped grassroots and national nonprofits, congressional candidates, and public universities be effective leaders in their fields and communities. They are a founding co-director of Holler Health Justice, a BIPOC- and queer-led reproductive justice nonprofit and abortion fund in their home state of West Virginia.
Alexandra Martinez
Senior Reporter, News
Alexandra is an award-winning, Cuban-American writer whose reporting spans such topics as immigration, the affordable housing crisis, and art-washing, and appears in VICE, Observer, Catapult magazine, CNN, and others. She received a B.A in Film Studies from Columbia University and has worked on documentary post-production teams as well as prison reentry programs in New York and Miami. She is based in Miami where she lives with her young daughter and enjoys tending to her native pine rockland garden.
Carolyn Copeland
News Editor
Carolyn is a passionate journalist and broadcasting professional with more than a decade of diverse experience in print and broadcast media. Her writing has been published by The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, HuffPost, POPSUGAR, and others. She spent several years as a television news writer and radio news talk show producer. A lifelong “theater geek,” she is a member of the board of directors for San Francisco Playhouse. She is a self-described “news junkie” who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and their chubby pug, Muffin.
Gabby Agustin
Social Media Specialist
Gabby is a storyteller and strategist interested in the intersection of culture, digital media, and social justice. A creative multi-hyphenate, she is a freelance photographer and designer, social media manager at Future Coalition, radio producer at FEM Magazine, and podcast host and producer at Off She Goes. She was born and raised in Manila, Philippines and immigrated to the U.S. in 2017. She is currently pursuing a B.A. in Communication and a minor in Sociocultural Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Kimberly Rooney 高小荣
Copy Editor
Kimberly is a Chinese-American adoptee from Jiangsu Province based in Pittsburgh. They were the fall 2020 City Books Writer in Residence, and they continue to write about racial, adoptee, and queer identities. Their writing has appeared in Waxwing Magazine, Chestnut Review, The Offing, and more. They received a B.Phil. from the University of Pittsburgh for their thesis exploring racial identity formation in Chinese-American adoptees. They enjoy crocheting, calligraphy, and cuddling with their cat Toaster.
Michi Trota
Features Editor
Michi is a five-time Hugo Award-winning and British Fantasy Award-winning editor and writer. She is the first Filipina to win a Hugo Award and the first person of color to hold the role of editor-in-chief at Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA). She has been featured in The Guardian and Chicago Tribune, and on NPR, and is also an essayist, public speaker, and fire performance artist. She lives in Chicago with her husband and two cats.
Saba Keramati
operations Manager
Saba is a Chinese-Iranian poet, writer, and editor whose creative work focuses on racial hybridity and exploring racial, body, and language consciousness. She believes in the power of storytelling to shift dominant narratives and create change. She received an M.F.A. from University of California, Davis, where she was a creative writing instructor. She is the current editorial fellow at Frontier Poetry and poetry editor at Sundog Lit. She splits her time between the San Francisco Bay Area and Michigan.
Sarah Pineda
Community Engagement Editor
Sarah is an audience and community engagement journalist working on building trust, deepening relationships, and uplifting the stories of the communities nonprofit newsrooms aim to serve. Her work also focuses on amplifying engagement-driven content from collaborations with fellow journalists and news organizations. Her engagement work contributions with Los Angeles’ NPR-member station KPCC-LAist was awarded the first Gather Award for engaged journalism portfolio at the Online Journalism Awards. She lives in the San Gabriel Valley, nestled in the foothills of Los Angeles County.
Shabnam Banerjee-McFarland
Audience Director
Shabnam is a marketer, editor, and producer who has worked in independent media aimed at providing tools, resources, and frameworks that support movement-building. As an editor, she has worked with New York Times bestselling authors, speakers, and activists on books and digital training products around intersectionality, racial and gender justice, decolonization, identity, and community organizing. Most recently, she joined Odom Media Management as an associate literary agent. She received a B.A. from University of California, Berkeley and M.A. from Columbia University in American Studies. She currently lives in Oakland, California.
Shirley Vilca
Development Director
Shirley is a seasoned nonprofit professional working toward advancing causes that allow for thriving communities. Her diverse background includes working with refugee youth, incarcerated youth, and LGBTQ+ youth, as well as advocating for education equity and LGBTQ+ literature access in schools. Prior to Prism, she worked in development for Rock the Vote. She is a board member for Building Allies, an organization supporting transgender communities nationwide. She received a B.A. from the Evergreen State College and M.A. in Nonprofit Management and Leadership from Antioch University. She resides in Corona, Calif.
Tamar Sarai Davis
Staff Reporter, Features
Tamar is passionate about narrative writing and firmly believes that story sharing and truth-telling play a powerful role in changing hearts, minds, and ultimately the lived realities of communities across the world. Her reporting focuses on race, culture, and criminal justice. Prior to Prism, Tamar was a criminal justice researcher at Color Of Change, the nation’s largest online racial justice organization. She received a B.A. in Sociology and Africana Studies from Wellesley College and M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University. Originally from Brooklyn, she currently resides in the New York neighborhood of West Harlem.
Contributors
Ambika Samarthya
Contributing editor
Cirien Saadeh
Midwest Workers’ Rights Correspondent
Jennifer Chowdhury
Contributing Writer
María Inés Taracena
contributing writer
Tina Vásquez
Contributing Writer
Vilissa Thompson
Contributing Writer
Sydney Pereira
Contributing Writer
Senior Fellows
Board of Directors
Emma Carew Grovum
Board Member
Founder, Kimbap Media
Iara Peng
Board Member
Founder & CEO, JustFund
Markos Moulitsas Zúniga
Board Member
Founder, Daily Kos
Sarah Alvarez
Board Chair
Founder & Executive Editor, Outlier Media
