Meet Our Reporters
Mark Burbridge
Mark Burbridge graduated in 2023 from Saint Louis University with a Bachelor of Arts in communication and a minor in film studies. He’s developed media content with Cinema St. Louis, SLU’s The University News, and other local organizations. Mark enjoys covering all aspects of media, from stories within the St. Louis community to developments in cinema, and hopes to one day become a movie critic. He enjoys spending time with his two huskies, cheering for the St. Louis Cardinals, improving his Spanish-speaking skills, and watching movies, particularly sci–fi and horror.
Ways to connect with Mark:
- @mark_a_burbridge on Instagram/Threads
- Mark Burbridge on LinkedIn
- @MarkBurbridge14 on X
Going beyond my comfort zone and becoming a better storyteller
I submitted my application for the NextGenRadio project with St. Louis Public Radio a few hours prior to the submission deadline. I remember thinking that I could definitely complete the project, but also having some doubts as well, as my previous four months had been...
Owen Henderson
Owen Henderson studied journalism at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and graduated in May 2023. He works as a journalist at Illinois Public Media. In addition to hosting Weekend Edition at IPM, he covers arts and culture and LGBTQ issues, and is a founding producer of the station’s weekly arts segment, WILL Call. Outside of the newsroom, Owen can often be found hiking, baking, or rehearsing for local theatrical productions.
Ways to connect with Owen:
- @owen.r.henderson on Instagram/Threads
- Owen Henderson on LinkedIn
- @OwenRHenderson on X
Getting out of the daily grind
There have not been many true constants in my life, but public radio is one of them. Morning Edition and All Things Considered were the soundtracks to my childhood mornings and afternoons; Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, Ask Me Another, and This American Life were the first...
Ro Kelly
Rowan “Ro” Kelly grew up in weird and queer in Chicago in the shadows of the 1990s Daly Administration and the Boeing 767s swooping into Midway Airport. At 18, she left her city alleys for the small-town bluffs of Iowa to study sociology and English literature, getting a taste of all things storytelling.
After finishing her degree and a year-long AmeriCorps stint at Iowa Legal Aid, she was back in the Chi to complete her master’s degree at the University of Chicago. It was there that Ro sophisticated her storytelling palette by recording interviews with transgender and gender-nonconforming people whose bodies inevitably rebelled against municipal topless public nudity laws. With her master’s degree in sociology and queer theory in hand, Ro hit the non-profit and government worlds in search of more stories of people existing outside the safety nets of the legal and criminal justice systems. After some spells as a domestic violence advocate and women’s history archivist, she was drawn to the courts to truly witness the lived experiences of the U.S. justice system.
Most recently in the state and federal judiciary systems of Missouri, Massachusetts, and Oregon, Ro has served as a judge’s clerk in St. Louis criminal courts and a program analyst for the federal judiciary. Partially a sociologist, partially an advocate, partially a legal bureaucrat, and most entirely a storyteller, Ro’s lens uniquely zooms in on humans that live in the shadows of the criminal justice system, with the single hope of inspiring empathy.
Hoping to walk the walk in her personal life too, when Ro is not empathetically uplifting stories “from the underground,” she is a “fun aunt” to her two beautiful nieces, serves on the board of directors of the Saint Louis Anti-Violence Project, and directs funerals for elder hippies at her Unitarian Universalist church.
Ways to connect with Ro:
- @La.vie.en.Ro.22 on Instagram/Threads
- Ro Kelly on LinkedIn
Novice podcaster gets newly equipped to record the songs of the universe
The story goes … I once asked a former lover to describe her love of astrophysics and all things string theory to me, a poet, so that I could understand her passion for them. She searched her brain for a translation from science to poetry, from nebula to nebulous....
Tracey J. Shanklin
St. Louis native Tracey J. Shanklin graduated with a degree in accounting from Southern University in Louisiana. She owns a voiceover company, Voices by Tracey, LLC, and works as an on-air show host on WSIE in Edwardsville, playing jazz music for music enthusiasts. She also brings books to life as a YouTube children’s storyteller. Her wanderlust is limited by her budget, but she loves to travel and recently returned from trips to Egypt and Greece. She is a pet parent to her toy rat terrier, Tinkerbell.
Ways to connect with Tracey:
- Tracey J. Shanklin on LinkedIn
- voicesByTracey.webs.com on the web
- voicesbytracey@gmail.com by email
This haiku ain’t about you… A reflection from the perspective of Tracey J. Shanklin
Writing this reflection, I realize that you can’t limit yourself only to what you think possible. Honestly I’m still processing what I’ve learned about this industry and myself as a reporter. The theme of this reflection is, “Thinking I knew a thing and I know NADA!”...
Sadie Wittenberg
Sadie Wittenberg is a photographer, writer and filmmaker. She earned her B.A. in Film and Media Studies from Washington University in St. Louis. Her films have been screened at film festivals and showcases, including the 573 Film Festival International 2022, and have been finalists in contests such as the Civic Life Project’s 2022 Democracy Youth Film Challenge.
Ways to connect with Sadie:
- @sadwitty on Instagram/Threads
- Sadie Wittenberg on LinkedIn
An expansive experience of growth and change
The only word I can think of to describe this experience is expansive. When we started out this week, I was concerned about my ability not only to meet deadlines, but also to produce work that I was proud of. With such a quick turn around for creating and finalizing...