Staff

Kat Aaron, Co-Director Kat Aaron, PPH’s Co-Director, has extensive experience as a print and radio journalist, and has been teaching radio classes since 2005. She began working in radio while still in her teens, and is now a producer for Wakeup Call, the morning news show at WBAI 99.5 FM. Kat was instrumental in local independent coverage of the 2004 Republication National Convention, where she coordinated the 24-hour streaming radio broadcast of the protests and the issues behind them. Until 2005, she was the Communications Director at the nationally-renowned economic justice organization, the Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project.

Deepa Fernandes, Co-Director PPH Co-Director Deepa Fernandes is an award-winning journalist, who is currently the host of Wakeup Call, the morning news show at WBAI 99.5 FM. Since 2003, Deepa has anchored most of the major national broadcasts for the Pacifica Network, including election year events, Supreme Court nomination hearings and major congressional investigations. Deepa has just authored a book, Targeted, Homeland Security and the Business of Immigration, on immigration policy and history that will be published by Seven Stories Press in December 2006. Both Deepa and Kat have received prestigious New York City Community Fellowships from the Open Society Institute.

Leigh Ann Caldwell, DC Director Leigh Ann is PPH's DC Director. She is also the Washington DC editor for the nationally syndicated newscast Free Speech Radio News. She is one of the few women to hold the top position of Editor in the lively and complex media market of Washington, D.C. As a former instructor for Rootz in New York who believes in its lessons and philosophy, she felt the youth of DC deserved media justice and was instrumental in the launching of Rootz DC in 2006.

Jacqueline Kook is the Operations Officer for PPH. Jacqueline's first experience in community radio was in high-school with the school's FM radio station.  She continued radio in college, but traded the airwaves for other forms of community organizing and coalition building.  Since 2005 Jacqueline has been working in education and the non-profit sector as a teacher and administrator. While using creative writing, games, and various arts to teach English as a Second Language to high-school students in Korea, she experienced how education as a process of knowledge-sharing and communication could connect people in profound ways.  She continues to use creative arts and inventive methodologies to exchange information whether she is teaching early childhood literacy, adult computer literacy, or health and movement classes.  Jacqueline is the New York City chapter co-leader for the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum, and the recipient of a Fulbright Teaching Fellowship.

Radio Rootz Staff

Sacajawea Hall, Radio Rootz Director Sacajawea "Saki" Hall, is the Director of Radio Rootz, PPH's youth media training program. She is also an activist organizer with the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement and a member of the Free Radio Youth Collective, which produces Rise Up Radio on WBAI 99.5 FM in New York.

Selina Musuta, DC Program Director Selina Musuta is the main teacher for Radio Rootz DC. She's also a Free Speech Radio News Correspondent and freelance writer. Selina’s radio skills are a product of a community radio project called the DC Radio Co-op. The Radio Co-op inspired her to train people from the community on editing, interviewing, and constructing their own stories. More importantly she enjoys learning from the people she trains. Selina hopes to continue building with people locally as well as internationally, a community media movement.

Sylvia Guerrero, Hi, my name is Sylvia Guerrero.  I've been with Radio Rootz for 2 years now and currently am the Radio Rootz' Youth Training Director.  I enjoy my job, especially teaching!

Hana Georg, Youth Trainer Hana Georg is originally from LA, and moved to New York in September of 2004. Hana graduated from ACORN H.S. for Social Justice and now attends the University of California at Santa Cruz, focusing her time on mobilizing youth around media activism and advocacy. She writes the Radio Rootz Radical Days in History segments. Hana is active in the queer rights movement and plans to focus her education on queer theory, gender studies, and race and whiteness studies. In her free time, you can find Hana playing the sax, stuffing her face, and missing her nephew!

Arturo Contreras, Program & Technology Associate - I grew up in California (the Valley). Growing up I had a knack for just fiddling & figuring out how things worked, inside and out. I pretty much destroyed everything in my path, intermittently trying to figure out what exactly made that little toy jump like that, or that airplane flip the way it did, and how does that computer tell that screen to do that!?, you know, the ol' "curious boy" story. Alot of people thought I was a crazy kid (some still do). Over time I learned too much though!; drawing, painting, photography, video etc. along the way, computers also got mixed up in the whole thing, I wanted to know EVERYTHING (and I still do).  Put the two together and you get an irreversible interest multimedia-design. So here I am, moved to New York to start a career in Multimedia-Design. I can happily say that PPH has allowed me to explore multiple characteristics of my creative persona, I can't wait to see what they'll have me do next!

Mera Beckford was a Youth Trainer for Radio Rootz. Mera Beckford is an able, unwavering, and self-starting seventeen year old. She enjoys reading, writing, cycling, and doing new things. Mera grew up in Arverne, New York with her single mother and twin brother, Malcolm. Of her family she says, “They’re annoying sometimes but it’s nice to have people I can count on.” 2006 being her senior year at Brooklyn Technical High School, Mera looks forward to attending college outside of New York State. When she’s through with school Mera will be a news anchor/reporter.

Joshua Breitbart, Policy Director In addition to being PPH's Policy Director, Joshua Breitbart is a principal of The Ethos Group, which advises municipalities and civil society on broadband development, and a producer of the Allied Media Conference, the premier national gathering of community media hosted in Detroit, Michigan. He was a founder of Brooklyn's Rooftop Films, now one of the largest film festivals in New York City. From 2001-2004, he worked with Clamor Magazine as a Consulting Editor and from 2000-2005 he helped organize the global Indymedia movement. Josh writes about media and technology on his blog and is a regular contributor to GovTech's Digital Communities.

Americorp CTC VISTA, Kristofer Ríos, is the Program Associate for the Digital Expansion Initiative. Kristofer's passion for community radio began in college where he co-hosted his first weekly show.  Since then, he has been a guest host for FM radio stations in Ghana and Brazil, and he continues to produce and host a weekly internet radio show on East Village Radio. Kristofer is also a freelance journalist who has dedicated the last three years to researching, archiving, and preserving music in Ghana, Brazil, and the Caribbean. He was also a recipient of the Thomas J. Watson Research Fellowship.

Mitch Jeserich was the Director of CNPI. Mitch Jeserich is a veteran Capitol Hill reporter who has received accolades from both community activists and elected officials for his daily coverage over the last three years. Members of the Black Congressional Caucus have acknowledged that Mitch’s coverage of certain issues, like the REAL ID act, exposed the true nature of the punitive legislation like no other reporter had done. Mitch has also anchored major national Pacifica Radio broadcasts from Capitol Hill. Mitch is now the Executive Producer for the morning news show at KPFA in Berkeley, CA.

Navi Sandhu was a Youth Trainer for Radio Rootz. Navi Sandhu didn't know anything about media or broadcasting until she was introduced to the Radio Rootz program in the summer of 2004. There, along with other high schoolers, she completed an award winning documentary about the D.R.E.A.M. act. Ever since then she has continued to keep her her interest of media alive and is now once again part of the Radio Rootz program as a peer cooridnator. She attends Fordham University and plans to continue in Business and Law. In addition to enjoying broadcasting, she also keeps her Indian heritage alive by practicing Bhangra, a traditional indian dance form. She is now living in India.