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Mikhail Zinshteyn has been a higher education reporter since 2015. As a freelancer, he contributed to The Atlantic, The Hechinger Report, Inside Higher Ed and The 74. Previously, he was a reporter at EdSource and before that a program manager at the Education Writers Association. Mikhail was born in the Soviet Union and has a master's degree in comparative politics from the London School of Economics. He is based in Los Angeles. Pell grants and work-study helped pay for his undergraduate degree at Union College.

Melissa Melton developed an early interest in radio while growing up in Hollister, California, as a frequent listener of her local radio stations. As a teenager, she became an ardent alternative music fan, especially fascinated with the post-punk, new wave, and no wave genres. She finally got to live out her longtime dream of being a radio disc jockey when she joined KCPR while studying at Cal Poly, garnering a reputation for her sunny personality and the eclectic mixes of music she played each week. After her years at KCPR, she feels incredibly grateful for the opportunity to continue sharing her favorite music with the Central Coast as a DJ on KCBX.

Jim Gonzales founded Ritmo y Sabor in the aughts to showcase an art form he's passionate about: Afro-Cuban jazz, salsa, and related music. Jim lived and worked in the Santa Maria area for many years before taking on the aloha spirit and moving to Hawaii, where he produces the show. He alternates hosting it with Pedro Arroyo and, occasionally, David Figueroa.

Rachel Becker is a reporter with a background in scientific research. After studying the links between the brain and the immune system, Rachel left the lab bench with her master’s degree to become a journalist via the MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing. For nearly three years, Rachel was a staff science reporter at The Verge, where she wrote stories and hosted videos covering a range of beats including climate change, nicotine, and nuclear technology. Her byline has also appeared in NOVA Next, National Geographic News, Smithsonian, Slate, Nature, Nature Medicine, bioGraphic, and Hakai Magazine, as well as the PBS Digital Studios video series Gross Science and the YouTube show MinuteEarth. Rachel now covers California’s complex water challenges and water policy issues for CalMatters. In 2021 she won first place for Outstanding Beat Reporting from the Society of Environmental Journalists.

Nadia Lopez covers environmental policy issues. Before joining CalMatters she covered Latino communities in the San Joaquin Valley for The Fresno Bee and reported from city hall for San José Spotlight. She's a native of Chula Vista and a graduate of San Francisco State University.

Nico Viñuela began as a news intern at KCBX, and then regularly hosted our weekend programs. He also substituted hosting Morning Edition, middays and All Things Considered. Nico graduated from Cal Poly with a BS in Journalism in December 2022. During his time at Cal Poly, he worked as a news anchor and Assistant News Director for the campus radio station, KCPR. He was embedded in Salinas, California covering the Kristin Smart murder trial for Mustang News and KCBX. Nico also did other occasional reporting for KCBX News. In 2023 he moved on to New York to work for Dateline at NBC Universal.

Sophie Lincoln is a journalism senior at Cal Poly, working to pursue a career in broadcast news. She is also the News Director for Cal Poly’s KCPR and the Special Sections Editor for Cal Poly’s Mustang News. In her spare time, she likes to hike, go to the beach and spend time with friends.

Sameea covers the state Capitol and California politics and is also a production assistant for CalMatters. She joined CalMatters in June 2021 from the Los Angeles Times, where she was a News Desk editor. Sameea was one of three 2020 IRE Journalist of Color fellows, and previously worked for the Center for Public Integrity. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and her master’s degree in journalism from Columbia Journalism School. Sameea was born and raised in the San Gabriel Valley in Southern California and is one of the Maynard Institute's M200 fellows.

Joe is the K-12 education reporter for CalMatters. His stories use data to highlight inequities in California’s public schools. Before joining CalMatters in June 2021, he was the education reporter at KPBS, the public media station in San Diego. Previously, he covered the schools in the Coachella Valley for The Desert Sun, a daily newspaper in Palm Springs. He has a bachelor’s degree in comparative literature from the University of California, Irvine and a master's degree from Columbia Journalism School.