Audio

An NPR junkie, I’m both an avid consumer and producer of audio news. My pieces have aired on NPR-affiliates, independent radio stations, and WTBU. I’m also an avid (and award-winning) podcaster. You can find some of my sample work, below.

*Big Sister Boston volunteer Brenna Murphy and her mentee Estela Diaz enjoy a pizza and a rare opportunity to meet in person at Appleton Farms in Ipswich. Photo by Valerie Wencis/BU News Service*

COVID-19 has prevented volunteers from the Big Sister Association of Greater Boston from mentoring the city’s girls in person. Valerie Wencis talks to Big Sister CEO Deborah Re and Big-Little sister match Brenna Murphy and Estela Diaz about how the organization has adapted.

This story originally aired on WTBU.

LISTEN: Boston’s big sisters mentor remotely during the pandemic

Pollsters have been expanding, reevaluating data collection methods since 2016

Statehouse Reporting for WOMR/WFMR

I spent time reporting on issues of importance to those living on Cape Cod and the Islands, as well as the Plymouth area. These news segments appeared on WOMR’s weekly newscast.

When the pandemic hit, federal funding was dispensed to provide free school meals nationwide. That funding is now set to expire in June. Project Bread CEO Erin McAleer, State Rep. Sarah Peake, and Provincetown IB School Nutrition Director Andrew Bernard weigh in on the state of food insecurity in Massachusetts and what’s at stake if the funding isn’t renewed.

Addressing the Outer Cape’s Housing Crisis. I wrote a corresponding article that ran in The Cape Cod Times.

LucidaClub is the area’s first concierge cannabis service, providing custom curation online for new and old cannabis users alike. Its first dispensary partner is Wellfleet’s Cape Cod Cannabis. This piece also ran on NPR station WCAI serving Cape Cod, Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, and the South Coast.

With the number of older adults increasing both nationally and locally across the Massachusetts, so too is the need for at-home care. But that demand is far outpacing the supply of home health aide workers and personal care attendants.

Podcasts

(Dis)integration

I co-created (Dis)integration, a podcast on Boston’s busing crisis of the 1970’s. I co-hosted the podcast and fully reported and produced three episodes featuring the three main families who were profiled in J. Anthony Lukas’ Pulitzer Prize-winning book on the crisis, Common Ground. My interview with Rachel Twymon won second place in the 2022 Public Media Journalists Association award for “Best Student Interview.”

My Body Odyssey
A podcast about the rewards and challenges of active lifestyle

With a background in health and medical communications, I joined the award-winning Fluent Knowledge team as co-host and senior reporter for My Body Odyssey, a podcast about the rewards and challenges of active lifestyle. Like the BBC’s “Up” series, we track people’s health journeys over time, chronicling the highs and lows, as our protagonists push their boundaries while dealing with chronic conditions like Type 1 Diabetes and Multiple Sclerosis, cancer, and painful orthopedic issues — just to name a few — and behavioral challenges. Their stories are complemented by insights from scientists, medical doctors, nurses, exercise and physical therapists, psychologists, pilates and yoga instructors and other wellness professionals.

Listen to trailer: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/season-1-trailer-my-body-odyssey/id1633285121?i=1000570853345

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