Portfolio

Laura crafts audio stories that are high quality, thoughtful and character driven. Here are some selected works.

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RADIO

Laura’s work in public radio highlights her deep coverage of education in Houston and Texas. Her audio storytelling focuses on equity for Houston’s most vulnerable students and how state and local policy can help—or worsen—gaps in opportunity.

Work
Texas Students Still Fighting For Special Education Despite Federal Order To Fix Services
Texas Students Still Fighting For Special Education Despite Federal Order To Fix Services

Houston Public Media

For over a decade, Texas illegally denied special education to tens of thousands of children with disabilities — services that are their right under federal law. State lawmakers took action and federal monitors stepped in. This investigation with the Houston Chronicle details how the crisis isn’t over for many families.

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This Teen Nearly Died In A School Shooting. Now She's Just Trying To Live
This Teen Nearly Died In A School Shooting. Now She's Just Trying To Live

NPR

Sarah Grace Salazar was shot at point-blank range in a mass shooting at her Texas high school. Laura followed her for nearly a year and gave listeners an intimate view of her physical and emotional recovery. Still needing surgery to remove toxic lead pellets in her body, Sarah found comfort in the love and faith of her mom, four sisters and best friend.

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For 40 Years, One Texas Family Has Fought For Equal School Funding
For 40 Years, One Texas Family Has Fought For Equal School Funding

NPR

This tells the story of educator Patty Rodriguez and the legacy of her father Demetrio Rodriguez, who took his fight for fair school funding to the U.S. Supreme Court. The case marked a turning point, with judges ruling 5-4 there was no constitutional right to equal education funding. The piece was part of the NPR reporting project School Money, a nationwide collaboration between NPR’s Ed Team and 20 member station reporters.

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Editing

Laura takes a collaborative approach to editing. She gets excited about helping other reporters develop their beats, workshop story ideas and overcome reporting challenges. She wants listeners to get the most out of every piece. In 2020, a piece Laura edited about the history of women’s voting in Texas won second place in best serious feature in the Texas AP Broadcasters Awards.

Work
Decades Of Uncertainty Continue As Trump Blocks New DACA Applicants
Decades Of Uncertainty Continue As Trump Blocks New DACA Applicants

The Texas Newsroom

This was part of a special collaboration between KERA’s Think and The Texas Newsroom that explored the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. It follows the political evolution of the GOP and attempts to protect Dreamers, young immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.

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Nearly 3 Years On, Few Houston Homeowners Have Been Reimbursed For Harvey Repairs
Nearly 3 Years On, Few Houston Homeowners Have Been Reimbursed For Harvey Repairs

Houston Public Media

In 2017, Hurricane Harvey flooded thousands of homes in Houston. Three years later, the city of Houston and a state agency are fighting over who should pay out the billion-dollar recovery effort, leaving homeowners stranded with repair bills. This investigation was one of Houston’s most listened to pieces on the NPR One app in 2020.

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Texas Lifts Moratorium On Evictions, Leaving Houston Renters Vulnerable
Texas Lifts Moratorium On Evictions, Leaving Houston Renters Vulnerable

Houston Public Media

During the pandemic, Houston became the largest city in the country to allow evictions to resume. This piece told how renters and advocates braced for a tsunami of evictions. It was picked up by NPR’s Weekend Edition.

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How Texas Prevented Black Women From Voting Decades After The 19th Amendment
How Texas Prevented Black Women From Voting Decades After The 19th Amendment

Houston Public Media

This piece digs into the history of women’s voting in Texas and how Black women were systematically denied their civil right to vote. It won second place in best serious feature in the 2019 Texas Associated Press Broadcasters Awards.

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Podcasts

Laura has contributed as a producer to national investigative podcasts, personal narrative segments and news-driven podcasts. She enjoys crafting segments that hook the listener in and build tension and surprise throughout the story arc.

Work
Access denied: The fight for public education
Access denied: The fight for public education

Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting

Laura teamed up with Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Brian Rosenthal, then of the Houston Chronicle, and Reveal to produce a behind-the-scenes look at Brian’s investigation into special education in Texas. He uncovered how Texas arbitrarily denied thousands of children with disabilities access to services that were their right under federal law.

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Weekly Wrap: “Thoughts And Prayers.”
Weekly Wrap: “Thoughts And Prayers.”

IT'S BEEN A MINUTE WITH SAM SANDERS

Laura joined NPR’s Sam Sanders in his weekly wrap of the news the week after Hurricane Harvey dumped five feet of water over Houston. Their conversation starts at about 14:40

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Episode 14: Love Is Not A Finish Line
Episode 14: Love Is Not A Finish Line

OUT THERE

The award-winning podcast Out There explores life’s big questions through intimate stories in the outdoors. In this episode, Laura tells how she and her then-boyfriend -- now husband--took their relationship to the next level, one pedal stroke at a time, when they set out to complete a 180-mile bike ride together.

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AUDIO PRODUCTION AND TAPE SYNCS

As an audio producer, Laura has done field production and tape syncs for a variety of media outlets and podcasts, including The New York Times and Slate. She’s diligent about understanding the producer’s goals so she can deliver audio elements seamlessly.

Work
The “Last Mustache in Washington” Edition
The “Last Mustache in Washington” Edition

Slate’s Political Gabfest

Laura conducted this tape sync, recording Emily Bazelon as she joined Slate’s political roundup remotely.

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Bryan Washington at a Houston Ice House
Bryan Washington at a Houston Ice House

The New Yorker Radio Hour

The New Yorker Radio Hour regularly features audio postcards with writers in their favorite places. For this segment, Laura did the field production and interviewed Brian Washington in a singular Houston institution: the West Alabama Ice House. The Houston native describes how it’s difficult to define an ice house, and what the place means to him.

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Being Women: Poetry and Imagery
Being Women: Poetry and Imagery

The New York Times

This multimedia project from The New York Times selected six poems by women and asked photographers to let the works inspire them. For the collection, Laura recorded Melissa Studdard reading her poem “Everyone In Me Is A Bird,” which then two photographers interpreted with a series of composite images about womanhood.

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 Still curious? Click here to see more of Laura’s Work.