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I started my journalism career in newspapers, writing for the Miami Herald Neighbors section during college. My first full-time gig out of school was as the pop music critic for the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville. Then, I moved to the Houston Chronicle where I was a Features writer. I started at NPR as an associate producer in 2008 and became an international correspondent in 2016. My work regularly appears on NPR’s newsmagazines like Morning Edition and All Things Considered. I have also guest hosted Weekend Edition.

While based in Nairobi, Kenya, and then Cape Town, South Africa, I crisscrossed the continent. I’ve interviewed presidents, covered resistance movements, civil war, Ebola, and the coronavirus pandemic. I spent years reporting a profile on the most vulgar woman in Uganda. I wrote about music, the joy of mango season in Njaanuary, a baby elephant boom, hyenas and even how I ended up jailed for four days in South Sudan.

During my time in Africa, I was also dispatched to other regions, including Venezuela and Ukraine to cover the Russian invasion.

Previously, I reported breaking news for NPR based out of Washington, D.C., where I covered everything from the American rapprochement with Cuba to natural disasters to the national debates on policing and immigration.

In 2022, I was named a Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in the Audio Reporting category for my reporting in Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda and Kenya. In 2009 and 2014, I was part of the NPR teams that received the George Foster Peabody Award. My 2016 investigative feature on the death of Philando Castile was honored by the National Association of Black Journalists and the Society for News Design.

I was born amid a civil war in Matagalpa, Nicaragua, and my parents fled when I was a kid. My family settled in Miami, where I grew up. I received my journalism degree from Florida International University.

I am married to writer and author Cynthia Leonor Garza. We have three daughters who sometimes join me in the field.