Stories, Conversations + Reporting
Latest
Navigating News Media After a Mass Violence Incident
National Mass Violence Center · 2026
Erika created this survivor-to-survivor guide with the National Mass Violence Center, offering 10 tips to help survivors navigate media attention after tragedy.
Stories
Erika hosts All Things Considered and Weekend Edition at KAZU, NPR for the Monterey Bay, and contributes to The Green Room, KAZU’s arts and culture interview series.
A Conversation with Stephanie Wittels Wachs
KAZU’s Green Room
Erika talks with Lemonada Media co-founder Stephanie Wittels Wachs about grief, addiction, and what she’s learned from more than a decade of telling stories about both.
A Conversation with Conall Jones
KAZU’s Green Room
Erika talks with Carmel Valley filmmaker Conall Jones about grief, change, and making the Academy Award-winning documentary All the Empty Rooms.
John Steinbeck’s boat tour
KAZU’s Green Room
Erika steps aboard the restored Western Flyer, the legendary fishing boat made famous by John Steinbeck and Ed Ricketts, to explore its remarkable second life.
Conversations
Erika speaks and moderates conversations about grief, gun violence, ethical storytelling, motherhood, and what it means to move through the moments that change us.
No Country for Mothers
Rio Theatre · Santa Cruz, California · August 2026
Erika moderated a post-film panel discussion following a screening of No Country for Mothers, sponsored in part by KAZU.
Grief Happy Hour
East Window · Boulder, Colorado · July 2026
Erika joined artist Dona Laurita for Grief Happy Hour, a gathering she created alongside Berger & Föhr’s Thoughts & Prayers exhibition exploring gun violence, loss, and the limits of symbolic response.
Centering Impacted Voices
Princeton University · Princeton, New Jersey · March 2026
Erika spoke on a panel at the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys’ Symposium on Ethical Communications in Criminal Cases about centering survivors and other impacted voices in public narratives.
Reporting
Selected reporting from more than a decade in journalism, including work for NPR and KAZU.
I Lost My Dad in a Mass Shooting. Here’s a Better Way to Count the Damage.
The Atlantic · 2023
A personal essay about grief, trauma, and what it means to understand loss from both sides of the story.
Millions of disabled Americans could lose federal benefits if they get married
NPR · 2022
A national story about the federal rules that can force people with disabilities to choose between marriage and essential benefits.
Beauty of California’s Highway 1 Also Means Frequent Damage
NPR · 2021
Reporting from Big Sur on the landscape, communities, and recurring damage along California’s iconic coastal highway.
Farm Workers Face Double Threat: Wildfire Smoke and COVID-19
NPR · 2020
Reporting from the Salinas Valley on farmworkers navigating hazardous wildfire smoke during the pandemic.
Erika’s reporting at KAZU has been recognized with multiple national Edward R. Murrow Awards.
