Editorial
Lyric Aquino (she/her)
Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo
Reporter + Report for America Corps Member
Lyric Aquino is an award-winning journalist with a passion for writing about all things relating to science, the environment and Indian Country. Originally from Ohio, she is a proud member of Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo with ancestry from Isleta Pueblo and the Jicarilla Apache Nation. She earned two bachelor’s degrees from Kent State University in anthropology and journalism and holds a master’s degree in science, health and environmental journalism from New York University. One of her passions is reporting on the intersection of traditional ecological knowledge and Western science. Before joining Underscore in July 2025, her reporting appeared in outlets such as Grist, High Country News, Popular Science and Smithsonian Magazine. In her spare time, she can be found fawning over reptiles, geeking out over Lord of the Rings, playing board games and exploring nature.
LinkedIn: Lyric Aquino
Bluesky: @lyricaquino.bsky.social
Email: laquino@underscore.news
Nika Bartoo-Smith (she/her)
Osage and Oneida descent
Underscore + ICT Reporter
Nika is a journalist with a passion for working to center the voices and experiences of communities often left behind in mainstream media coverage. Of Osage and Oneida Nations descent, with Northern European and Indonesian ancestry, Nika was born and raised in Portland. A joint reporter with Underscore Native News + ICT since March 2023, she previously worked as the health and social services reporter at The Columbian in Vancouver, Washington. Nika received a degree in journalism from the University of Oregon. Her favorite way to unwind is by trying a new recipe, browsing a local bookstore or beading jewelry.
LinkedIn: Nika Bartoo-Smith
Email: nbartoosmith@underscore.news
Check out Nika’s work here.
Luna Reyna (she/her)
Little Shell Ojibwe descendant
Underscore + ICT Northwest Bureau Chief
Luna Reyna is a writer and broadcaster whose work has centered the voices of the systematically excluded in service of liberation and advancing justice. Before coming to Underscore Native News and ICT (formerly Indian Country Today) as the partner organizations’ Seattle-based Northwest Bureau Chief, Luna was Crosscut’s Indigenous Affairs Reporter, and her work has appeared in the South Seattle Emerald, Prism Reports, Talk Poverty and more. Luna is proud of her Little Shell Chippewa heritage and is passionate about reporting that sheds light on colonial white supremacist systems of power.
X: @LunaBReyna
Email: lunar@underscore.news
Check out Luna’s work here.
Christine Trudeau (she/her)
Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation
Managing Editor
Christine oversees Underscore’s newsroom and directs its journalism. She supervises the editorial staff in alignment with Underscore’s mission to provide impactful reporting at the intersections of sovereignty and justice for Indigenous communities of the Pacific Northwest. Christine is passionate about reporting that serves, informs and helps build agency for Indigenous people. She is a committed advocate for mentoring the next generation of Indigenous journalists. Christine is the first Indigenous managing editor of Underscore Native News, and also served as board president of the Indigenous Journalists Association from 2023-2025, previously known as the Native American Journalists Association. She has reported for outlets such as NPR, High Country News and National Native News, while also serving adjunct professor roles at the Institute of American Indian Arts and University of Montana School of Journalism.
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/trudeauchristine/
Bluesky: @trudeaukwe.bsky.social
Email: ctrudeau@underscore.news
Jarrette Werk (he/him)
Aaniiih & Nakoda Nations
Reporter + Photographer
Jarrette is a multimedia journalist with experience in digital news, audio reporting and photojournalism. He joined Underscore in June 2022 in partnership with the national Report for America program. Originally from Montana, Jarrette is a proud member of the Aaniiih and Nakoda Tribes of the Fort Belknap Indian Community. He previously served as an associate producer for Nevada Public Radio’s (KNPR) “Native Nevada Podcast,” an eight-part podcast series highlighting the culture, issues and perseverance of the 27 tribal nations in present-day Nevada. He has earned a national Hearst Journalism Award and regional Edward R. Murrow Award for his journalism, along with numerous awards for his reporting and photography from the Indigenous Journalists Association, Report for America and Society of Professional Journalists.
Email: jwerk@undescore.news
Read Jarrette’s work here and check out more of his photos here.
Audience
Kyra Antone (she/her)
Coeur d’Alene and Tohono O’odham
Audience Engagement Manager
Kyra, whose Indian name is Kiohod (Rainbow), grew up in the Pacific Northwest. She is Coeur d’Alene and Tohono O’odham and is a direct descendant of Chief Spokane Gary. She is passionate about storytelling in its many forms and centers her work on uplifting the voices of Indigenous communities. Before joining Underscore, Kyra taught Native youth how to create podcasts with Voices to Hear, was a communications consultant for the Center for Native American Youth at the Aspen Institute, worked as a production assistant on the PBS series Native America 2.0 and served as the communications specialist for the National Indian Child Welfare Association.
LinkedIn: Kyra Antone
Email: kantone@underscore.news
Operations
Myers Reece (he/him)
Executive Director
Myers has been executive director of Underscore since early 2022, overseeing the hiring of all personnel, fundraising, strategic planning, program development and community relationship building. He was previously a founding member and managing editor of the Flathead Beacon in Montana. His award-winning journalism and essays have appeared in newspapers, magazines, literary journals and anthologies across the country. He serves on the board, including as president in 2023, of the Portland chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA). As a non-Native Japanese American, he has unwavering belief in the mission of elevating BIPOC voices and communities in the media.
Email: mreece@underscore.news
Amy Franco (she/her/ella)
Operations Director
Amy holds over 15 years of experience in public health research and grant administration, including roles at University of Illinois Chicago, OHSU’s Northwest Native American Center of Excellence and Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board, while also serving on the board of Pueblo Unido PDX. Amy grew up outside Chicago with frequent trips back to Panama. Since moving to Portland in 2016, Amy has been honored to learn and work alongside Native colleagues on health and higher education topics of relevance to Native people. As operations director, she maintains internal financial, personnel and operational systems and guides new process development while adhering to Underscore values.
Journalism Fellows
Adrianna Adame, 2025
Adrianna is a journalist of Mexican and Chippewa Cree heritage, passionate about telling stories from diverse communities. Though she grew up in Southern California, her reporting journey has taken her across the East Coast and Midwest. Her career has included covering Indigenous democracy as a reporter for Buffalo’s Fire in North Dakota and writing features at Syracuse.com.
Aislin Tweedy, 2024
Aislin Tweedy is a journalist in Missoula, Montana. She is an enrolled member of the Nakoda tribe from Fort Belknap Reservation. She was the Editor in Chief of North Idaho College’s student newspaper, the Sentinel, and a news reporter for the Montana Kaimin at the University of Montana. She was an intern for the Daily Montanan in 2023. She focuses on state politics, student government and Native American politics and sovereign rights.
Carrie Johnson, 2023
Carrie Johnson is Chickasaw and Pawnee from southern Oklahoma. She graduated from Austin College in 2024 and was accepted into New York University’s graduate journalism program. She has been a fellow for the Indigenous Journalists Association, a mentee for NPR’s NextGenRadio: Indigenous, an intern for the Chickasaw Press, a freelancer for the Sherman Herald Democrat and a staff writer for Austin College’s The Observer.
McKayla Lee, 2022
McKayla Lee (Diné) is a student at the University of Montana, where she double majors in Journalism and Native American Studies. She was born and raised in Whale Rock, Arizona on the Navajo Nation and is an enrolled citizen of the Navajo Nation. McKayla spent four years as a reporter at the Southern Ute Drum in Colorado and has won awards for her writing and photography from the Indigenous Journalists Association, SPJ and others.
Board of Directors
Stone Hudson, Chair
Stone Hudson, an enrolled citizen of the Three Affiliated Tribes, is a Program Officer to tribal communities for Meyer Memorial Trust, using his experience in government to better inform public-private funding partnerships. Previously, he has overseen government relations to tribes on behalf of U.S. Congressman Earl Blumenauer and the City of Portland, where he worked for two years in the Tribal Relations Program.
Marcella Miller, Vice Chair
Marcella Miller is an organizational culture and equity analyst with the Oregon Department of Human Services. Her well rounded experience in nonprofit management, community direct service and organizational development has spanned dozens of organizations and communities across Nebraska, Oregon and national projects.
Casey Pearlman, Treasurer
Casey Pearlman, Inupiaq and mixed settler descent, is the Executive Director of ATNI-EDC. She is an alum of the Rematriating Economies Apprenticeship and a board member-at-large for the Center for Inclusive Entrepreneurship. She graduated from Portland State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in both Business Management and Human Resource Management and an Associates in International Business earned while studying abroad in Salzburg, Austria.
Mago Torres, Secretary
Mago Torres is an investigative journalist who specializes in research, access to public records and project leadership. She is the Data Editor at The Examination, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates global health threats. Before that, she worked with Open News and was the data editor with CLIP. She worked for ICIJ on the investigations for the Pandora Papers, FinCEN Files, Luanda Leaks and Pulitzer Prize-winning Panama Papers. She was a JSK Fellow at Stanford University and holds a Ph.D. in Humanistic Studies.
Joseph Bull, Member
Joseph Bull is Dean of the Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science at Portland State University and the first Native American dean of engineering in the U.S. He previously served as Tulane University’s John and Elsie Martinez Biomedical Engineering Chair. He holds fellowships at the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and American Indian Science and Engineering Society. Dr. Bull, an enrolled member of the Delaware Tribe of Indians, has worked tirelessly to improve racial equity and diversity.
Erin Dysart, Member
Erin Dysart is Managing Director of Strategic Services at Meyer Memorial Trust. Before joining Meyer, she helped administer the U.S. State Department’s Fulbright Scholar Program at the Institute of International Education and managed scholarship programs at AFS Intercultural Programs. Most recently, she volunteered with the Fund for Education Abroad, a program that strives to make study abroad more accessible for underrepresented groups.
Paige Parker, Member
Paige Parker is an enrolled member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe and descends through her grandmother from the Little Shell Chippewa Tribe. A former education and public health reporter and journalism teacher, Paige is now a storyteller for the Oregon Community Foundation. Paige graduated from the University of Montana with a Bachelor’s Degree in both Journalism and Native American Studies.