Our People

Sonali Gupta is an essayist, journalist, and audio producer. She holds a master’s degree in journalism from New York University and previously worked as an audio producer in Mumbai, where she lived for over a decade. Her writing focuses on health, disability, and culture, with work appearing in The New York Times — including a widely read essay on the pandemic — as well as Vogue and other publications. She’s based in New Jersey.

John Loeppky (He/Him) is a disabled freelance journalist who lives and works on Treaty 6 territory in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. A former para-sport athlete, arts non-profit administrator, and football coach (yes, really) John’s work has appeared for a variety of outlets, including CBC, FiveThirtyEight, VeryWell, Healthline, and a host of others. His goal in life is to have an entertaining obituary to read.

Ariana Martinez (they/them) is a multimedia artist and storyteller working across audio and print media. Ariana has produced radio features for BBC Radio 4’s Short Cuts and BBC Radio 3’s Between the Essays. They have worked as a sound designer and engineer for Magnificent Noise and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Audible Originals, Pineapple Street Media, and elsewhere. Ariana has written about the art of radio making and creative practice for Transom, Weird Noise, and elsewhere. Ariana is a dedicated media educator and has taught courses for the CUNY Newmark School of Journalism, The New School, NYU, The Salt Institute, UnionDocs, The Vocalo Storytelling Workshop with WBEZ, and AIR’s Sound Path. Currently, Ariana is a part-time lecturer teaching print and time-based media at Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts and among the founding editors of Sound Fields, a new publication dedicated to audio documentary theory and practice.

Lygia (she/her) is an award-winning bilingual journalist working in narrative print and audio. A reporter, editor and producer, Lygia often focuses on disability, health equity and Latine stories. As a career-long freelancer, Lygia has reported from across Latin America, North America and Europe for outlets including Afar, Al Jazeera magazine, The Associated Press, Business Insider, The American Prospect, the CBC, FRONTLINE/World, Marketplace, The World, Latino USA, The Pulse, Virginia Quarterly Review, Switchyard, Today.com, and the Christian Science Monitor, among many others. Lygia has also produced podcasts for Spotify and The Conversation Canada. Her work has been recognized with many grants, fellowships, national prizes and awards. A Californian transplant now living in Toronto, Lygia earned her BA and Master’s degrees from the University of California, Berkeley.Lygia is a contributing writer for The Sick Times and the Disabled Journalists Association. She also edits in Spanish and English at palabra (the multimedia outlet of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists), and is a mentor for the Uproot Project’s Environmental Justice Fellows. Lygia is a queer, multiply-disabled and neurodiverse advocate for inclusion and equity.

Cara Reedy is the Founder and Executive Director of the Disabled Journalists Association. She spent ten years of her career at CNN producing documentaries as well as writing for various verticals including Eatocracy and CNN Business. In 2019, she produced Dwarfism and Me for The Guardian, which was an exploration of the treatment of Dwarfs in American society. She has spent the last four years studying disability and its coverage in the media. As part of her work, she trains newsrooms to tell more robust and investigative stories about disability. In addition to her work in the journalism industry, she also works in narrative change in the film and tv industry and is a member of the TV Academy Diversity Committee. Her latest short documentary about the life of Brad Lomax, Black Panther and Disability Rights activist is set to air on PBS later this year.

Martha Valenta is a social media manager with a diverse background in experience design, art, and advocacy. With over a decade of experience in UX and Product Management for Fortune 500 corporations and startups, she brings a user-centric approach to creating engaging, impactful content that resonates with audiences across various platforms.

Prior to managing social media for Disabled Journalists Association (DJA), Martha successfully managed the online presence of several organizations, including St. Louis Experience Design professional organization (STLX), I Need That Art gallery, DangerSloth designs, and her own fine art account. Her ability to craft compelling narratives, foster community engagement, and develop effective strategies has been instrumental in promoting the missions and values of these organizations.

As an artist with ADHD, Martha creates accessible, abstract, sensory-based pieces that convey aspects of living with the condition, aiming to build empathy and acceptance.

Through her social media management at DJA and her strong background in accessible User Experience design, she advocates for greater inclusivity in the media industry and beyond, raising awareness about the unique perspectives and strengths that individuals with disabilities bring to their work.

Jen Deerinwater is a bisexual, Two-Spirit, multiply-disabled, citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and an award-winning journalist and organizer who covers the myriad of issues hir communities face with an intersectional lens. Jen is the founding executive director of Crushing Colonialism and a 2019 New Economies Reporting Project and 2020 Disability Futures fellow. 

Jen is a contributor at Truthout and hir work has been featured in a wide range of publications, including several anthologies, such as Disability Visibility: First Person Stories from the Twenty First Century and Crip Authorship: Disability as Method. Jen is the co-editor of the anthology Sacred and Subversive and is currently hard at work on hir own book. 

Russell Midori is a Hispanic-American photojournalist and documentary producer from New York City. He shoots and edits local breaking news for WPIX and has worked around the world for nearly 20 years telling stories focused on conflict, crime, and civil unrest. Midori first became interested in improving accessibility for disabled reporters after founding Military Veterans in Journalism, where he regularly worked with disabled veterans pursuing careers in news media. Midori continues to serve on the board of MVJ, as well as that of Overseas Press Club Foundation. He is a veteran Marine who used the GI Bill to earn masters degrees from John Jay and Columbia University in criminal justice and investigative journalism. Learn more about his professional journey and personal passions at www.russellmidori.com

Leezel Tanglao is a bridge journalist at the intersection of editorial, product and business development. She has worked at several media companies including The Points Guy, HuffPost, Associated Press, CNN, CBSNews.com, VICE News, NowThis, ABCNews.com, KCBS/KCAL and Press-Enterprise. She is currently the Assistant Managing Editor for Digital at Dallas Morning News. She is Immediate Past President of the Filipino Young Leaders Program (FYLPRO) and cofounder and project director of FYLPRO’s Tayo, a data innovation hub and media literacy initiative.