Member Directory

Rudy Cardoso-Peraza's journalism career began in high school. By the time he became a sophomore at Millikan High School, he realized that he could actually write pretty well. His classmates would praise his writing skills and also to his surprise, his English Literature teacher nominated and awarded him with an English Medal of Merit. While acquiring a passion for writing, Rudy also frequently followed the news on television and on newspapers. He is now a junior majoring in Journalism and minoring in Entrepreneurship at CSULB. Rudy is currently writing for CSULB's newspaper, the Daily 49er, and is an intern at VoiceWaves.

Todd Johnson is a journalism graduate of California State University, Long Beach, where he served as a staff writer and photo editor for the Daily 49er newspaper. Before joining VoiceWaves, Todd was a visual journalism intern and freelancer for Southern California Public Radio. His work has been recognized by the Society of Professional Journalists and the Press Photographers Association of Greater Los Angeles. Todd grew up in Los Angeles and enjoys producing stories about policies and the communities that they affect.

New America Media is the country's first and largest national collaboration and advocate of 3,000 ethnic news organizations. Over 57 million ethnic adults connect to each other, to home countries and to America through 3000+ ethnic media outlets, the fastest growing sector of American journalism.

Founded by the nonprofit Pacific News Service in 1996, NAM is headquartered in California with offices in New York and Washington D.C., and partnerships with journalism schools to grow local associations of ethnic media.

What makes the RICHMOND PULSE different from other news organizations is that it is community based, youth-led, and with a focus on any issue that affects the health of the overall community. Young people will be trained in the craft of multimedia reporting, effectively becoming the eyes and ears of their community and bringing their stories to a wider audience through the web as well as a local newspaper that will be distributed widely throughout the city of Richmond, and beyond.

Coachella Unincorporated is a Youth Media Startup in the East Coachella Valley, funded by the Building Healthy Communities Initiative of The California Endowment and operated by New America Media in San Francisco. The purpose of the project is to report on issues in the community that can bring about change. Coachella Unincorporated refers to the region youth journalists cover but also to the unincorporated communities of the Eastern Valley with the idea to “incorporate” the East Valley into the mainstream Coachella Valley mindset.

VoiceWaves partners with the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) each semester to mentor students' community reporting. The Journalism 495 Enterprise Reporting in Diverse Communities course challenges students to build on their journalism skills covering various neighborhoods throughout Long Beach, including North Long Beach, Central Long Beach, Downtown, and the Westside.

Samantha is studying journalism at CSULB.