Hi, I’m Liz.

I'm a journalist first. Everything else — the teaching, the ghostwriting, the twenty-year career that's taken me from South Florida to Minnesota to North Carolina — grew out of that.

I currently edit K-12 education, environment, and race, class, and communities coverage at WUNC News, North Carolina’s public radio station, where I also coordinate the station's Youth Reporting Internship program. Before that, I spent eight years reporting for Minnesota Public Radio, and before that, I cut my teeth as a newspaper reporter at the Miami Herald and the Sun-Sentinel in South Florida. My work has also aired or appeared on NPR, KPCC, USA Today, and WBUR, among others.

I'm a first-generation American born to a Colombian mother and a German father. I'm bilingual and bicultural in a way that shapes how I listen to people and the stories they tell. I live in North Carolina now with my husband and two daughters, and when I'm not chasing a story or a deadline, I'm probably planning our next trip or hiking somewhere in the woods.

LET'S CONNECT!

Why I teach and mentor

A few years into my public radio career, I realized I loved something almost as much as reporting: helping other people get better at it. I occasionally teach audio journalism at UNC Chapel Hill's Hussman School of Journalism and Media, where I get to hand off the same lessons I'm still learning myself: how to find the story, how to earn someone's trust in an interview, how to cut ruthlessly in the edit.

My students and mentees have gone on to work at NPR, WBEZ, and public radio stations across the country. More than one has told me the class changed how they think about storytelling entirely. That's the part of the job that never gets old.

Why I started The Ghostwriting Lab

A few years ago, I noticed something: the exact skills that make someone a good journalist — curiosity, structure, knowing your audience, an instinct for what actually matters — are the same skills most business leaders wish they had for their own content. Most of them don't have twenty years to develop that instinct. So I started The Ghostwriting Lab to bring it to them.

I don't just write newsletters and LinkedIn posts. I help people figure out what's genuinely distinct about how they think, then turn that into content their audience actually wants to read, instead of one more thing that sounds like everyone else's marketing.

My philosophy: never stop learning

If there's one thread running through my whole career, it's this: I've never let "I don't know how to do that yet" stop me.

When I got curious about audio, I taught myself the craft and landed a fellowship that turned into an entirely new chapter of my career. When newsrooms went digital, I learned the tools instead of waiting for someone to hand me a manual. Same thing now with AI. That instinct — to stay curious and figure it out — is exactly what I bring to every client, every student, and every story I edit.

As one former colleague put it: she has never, and will never, stop learning. I'd like to think that's still true.

A few honors along the way

I've been lucky enough to have this work recognized over the years, including:

  • Pulitzer Prize finalist (team), coverage of Hurricane Wilma

  • Multiple Edward R. Murrow Awards, including News Series, Excellence in Innovation, and Excellence in Sound

  • Multiple Green Eyeshade Awards (SPJ), including first place for radio documentary and public service journalism

  • NABJ Salute to Excellence, News Series

  • National Headliner Award (team)

  • Poynter Women's Leadership Academy, participant

  • National Health Journalism Fellowship, University of Southern California

  • Institute for Justice and Journalism Fellowship, University of Oklahoma

  • Knight Digital Media Center Multimedia Fellowship, UC Berkeley

  • Inter-American Press Association Fellowship, one-year fellowship in Santiago, Chile

  • Regional Radio Television Digital News Association awards, nearly every year since 2017

SEE THE COMPLETE LIST OF AWARDS →

  • "Liz is a perfect blend of creative and decisive. She's helped me hone big, expansive ideas into clear and compelling projects. She's a natural teacher and mentor."

    — Anita Rao, host, Embodied

  • "Liz's class was foundational to my audio journalism experience. I learned practical skills I still use every day."

    — Emma Peaslee, producer, NPR

  • "Liz has both the vision to recognize a promising story and the know-how to guide a reporter through its development. I still draw on the lessons I learned from her editing."

    — Lisa Philip, higher education reporter, WBEZ Chicago

Get in Touch

Whether you're a business leader looking for a content partner, an organization that needs an editorial hand, or a program looking for a guest speaker or instructor — I'd love to hear from you.

Tell me a little about what you're working on, and I'll get back to you within 48 hours. If it sounds like a good fit, we'll set up a short call — no pressure, no pitch, just a real conversation about what you need and whether I'm the right person to help.