Jessica Kim Cohen is a health technology and biotechnology reporter and Chicago native. She currently covers precision medicine at GenomeWeb, part of Crain Communications, and previously was a technology beat reporter at Modern Healthcare magazine. She’s been published in the Chicago Reader, Chicago Health Magazine, Baltimore City Paper and Baltimore magazine, among other local news outlets. She’s been a member of AAJA Chicago’s board since 2021 and serves as a small/medium chapter representative for national AAJA’s governing board.

AMY QIN

Vice President

Amy Qin is currently a data reporter at WBEZ. Aside from WBEZ, she’s been published in the Chicago Reader, Block Club Chicago, Injustice Watch, and In These Times. She was the recipient of AAJA Chicago’s 2021 David Ibata Print Scholarship.

AMIRAH ZAVERI

Communications Director

Amirah Zaveri is a Chicago native and is the executive producer of two long-form public affairs shows: Viewpoints Radio and Radio Health Journal. Both are nationally syndicated radio programs and are also available as podcasts on all major podcast platforms. Prior to managing these shows, Amirah worked in public relations and corporate communications in the early part of her career. She graduated in 2015 with a degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and has been a member of AAJA Chicago’s board since 2023. Follow her on X at @amirahzaveri.

Ariel Cheung is the editorial director at City Bureau, a nonprofit news lab based in Chicago. She was previously the food and travel editor at the Chicago Tribune, the dining editor for CS magazine, and a reporter for DNAinfo Chicago. She has written for Chicago magazine, Block Club Chicago, Chalkbeat and USA TODAY. Her work in Chicago has sent her everywhere from the Cubs World Series parade and the city’s finest restaurants to crime scenes and teacher picket lines. She has been a member of AAJA Chicago since the organization’s college internship program first brought her to Chicago to work for the Sun-Times in 2011. Follow her on Bluesky at @missprint.

Elisa xu

Membership Director

Elisa Xu is a media and misinformation analyst at NewsGuard, an organization dedicated to rating the credibility of news sites and tracking online misinformation. She was previously a fellow at Business Insider and has freelanced with publications including South Side Weekly and Native News Online. She graduated from Northwestern University’s graduate journalism program in 2022, where she specialized in magazine journalism. Follow her on X at @ElisaXu7.

casey mendoza

Events Director

Casey Mendoza’s work has run the full gamut of video: reporter, producer and documentary filmmaker. She’s contributed to the Emmy Award-Winning series, “In Real Life,” and her work has been recognized by organizations like the International Women’s Media Foundation, Google News Initiative and Video Consortium. Born and raised in Chicagoland, Casey feels at home at any comic book shop, comedy show or concert hall in the city, and she’s constantly on the search for the perfect basket of lumpia.

Eunice Alpasan is a digital reporter at WTTW News/PBS Chicago. She previously worked as a producing fellow for WTTW’s flagship nightly news program, “Chicago Tonight.” Prior to WTTW, she was an engagement producer for Illinois Public Media’s “The 21st” out of Champaign-Urbana’s local NPR station. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she served as editor-in-chief for the student-run arts platform the Collective Magazine and was selected as a Roger Ebert Fellow in Media Criticism. She founded and served as president for AAJA’s student chapter at UIUC. Follow her on X at @eunicealpasan.

katrina pham

Scholarship Program Director

Katrina Pham is an audience engagement reporter with Borderless Magazine covering immigrants and immigration policy in Chicago. She’s previously worked with the Marshall Project, In These Times and ABC7 Chicago and is an alum of the Chips Quinn Diversity in Journalism fellowship program and the NPR Next Generation Radio program. Katrina graduated from Northwestern University with her Bachelor’s degree in 2023 and worked with other student members to revive NU’s student AAJA chapter before joining the Chicago board as scholarship program director.