Communities Building a New Path Forward

Partner: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

My Role: Editorial Lead | Production Manager

Year: 2023-2024

Overview

StoryCorps Studios partnered with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to document how communities across the country are working to repair the lasting impacts of transportation policies that divided neighborhoods and limited opportunity. Through documentary stories, photography, animation, and audio, the project highlighted community-led efforts to reconnect neighborhoods and create healthier, more equitable places to live.

The campaign centered the voices of neighbors, educators, advocates, and local leaders, revealing how transportation shapes health, belonging, and opportunity—and how communities are reclaiming their futures.

My Role

As Editorial Lead and Production Manager, I helped shape the collection from story development through final publication. I hired and managed the production team, collaborated with producers to develop story pitches, created an editorial framework for evaluating proposals, and approved the stories presented to the client, helping ensure the final collection reflected a broad range of communities, perspectives, and solutions.

Once stories were selected, I managed production across nationwide recordings, coordinating travel, studios, schedules, and deliverables. I then served as story editor for the audio collection, guiding producers through structural revisions and narrative development, while providing visual editorial oversight for the accompanying videos and animations.

Project Highlights

  • Collaborated with producers to develop 12 story pitches for client review.

  • Created an editorial framework to evaluate pitches and build a balanced, representative collection.

  • Managed production across recordings nationwide, including travel, studios, and scheduling.

  • Served as story editor for 11 documentary stories and one collection montage, while overseeing the editorial direction of accompanying videos and animations.

Final Deliverables

11 audiovisual stories • 11 social media shorts • 4 animations • 1 animated collection montage

Selected Work

Below are a few of my favorite stories from the collection. You can explore the full project on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation website.

Alex Chan interviews his former teacher, Suzanne Lee, about Boston's Chinatown and how the I-90 freeway transformed the neighborhood they both call home.

Mackenzie Davis asks her grandfather, Nathaniel Khaliq, about their family's history in Rondo, a close-knit Black community in Saint Paul that was divided by the construction of Interstate 94.

A montage introducing the voices and communities featured throughout the collection, highlighting efforts to repair the lasting harms of past transportation policies.