Arielle Gray is an arts reporter for WBUR, an NPR station in Boston, where I used to work. We were still co-workers when I asked Ari to be my first guest for a conversation about journalism.

Ari’s a Boston native, from the neighborhood of Mattapan, who works hard to cover her community with the care and respect traditional media tends to lack when covering people of color. In fact, she received a community service award for her work some time after we recorded this.

For this episode, we learn about how she got her start, why she views journalism as art, and how she sees her future in the industry.

Much of Ari’s work delves into the history of Boston’s Black history. One of my favorite stories from her involves Ari tracking down two sisters captured and unnamed in a photo featured in an exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts. It’s definitely worth a read or listen if you want to learn more about her work.

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