AAJA-LA Board

Samantha Masunaga,
President

Samantha Masunaga is a reporter at the Los Angeles Times who covers the business of the Hollywood movie studios. She has been at the L.A. Times since 2014 and has covered beats such as the aerospace industry and the changing nature of white-collar work. She was first introduced to AAJA-LA after winning a student scholarship while in college at UCLA. She joined the San Francisco chapter when she was in grad school at UC Berkeley before rejoining the LA chapter after she was hired at the L.A. Times.

Ben Pu,
Senior VP of Programming

Benjamin Pu is a producer at NBC News, where he produces educational video packages, live streams, panels and internal and external conference training for the national news group. He previously worked as a national political reporter for NBC News and in a variety of production roles at MSNBC. He has previously served on the National Governing Board of AAJA and the board of AAJA-NY and has successfully fundraised tens of thousands of dollars throughout his over a decade of involvement with AAJA.

Ameera Butt,
Treasurer

Ameera is an audience engagement editor at NPR based in Los Angeles. Previously, she was a multiplatform editor at the LA Times and worked alongside numerous AAJA-LA board members.

Maneeza Iqbal,
VP of Career Development

Maneeza Iqbal is the senior analyst of digital content at ABC7 in Los Angeles. She is dedicated to seeing more journalists of color in newsrooms across the greater L.A. region. As VP of career development, finding opportunities for young journalists to grow and discover new skills is an honor. Working with internships is key to bringing new and diverse voices into newsrooms.

Teresa Watanabe,
VP of Community Engagement

Sona Patel is the program director and an investigations editor for the Local Investigations Fellowship at The New York Times. She started her career as a beat reporter for The (San Luis Obispo) Tribune where she covered one of the largest municipal bankruptcies in state history.

From there, she pivoted to audience work and was the first Social Media Editor for The Seattle Times where she was part of the team that won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting in 2010. She joined the Audience team at The New York Times in 2012 and now oversees a fellowship that aims to develop the next generation of investigative reporters across the country. She teaches part-time at Cal State Long Beach and graduated from UC Irvine.

Mallory Carra
Board member

Mallory Carra is an award-winning journalist, editor, producer, and professor based in Los Angeles with over 20 years of professional experience across digital, audio, and print. She is a part-time professor, teaching video, audio, and digital journalism at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and mentors high school journalism students in the Koreatown Storytelling Program in partnership with The LA Local. Outside of teaching, Mallory is a journalist and senior podcast producer who contributed articles to NBCU Academy, The Spruce, E! News, the New York Daily News, and the Columbia Journalism Review, among many others; and worked on hit podcasts for Spotify and USC Annenberg.

Rubaina Azhar,
Board member

Rubaina Azhar is a multiplatform editing lead (a copy editor who regularly slots) at the L.A. Times, where she has been employed for 27 years. She has volunteered with AAJA throughout her career, including serving as a board member with the New England chapter when she was a reporter at the Hartford Courant, and working as a professional staffer with the annual convention’s Voices publication. She worked with the AAJA-LA board to create the Henry Fuhrmann copy editing internship at the L.A. Times, has copy edited and written blurbs for the Trivia Bowl program and other chapter materials, and has helped organize The Times’ Trivia Bowl teams for several years running — including a few that won the coveted Rice Cup.

Karena Phan,
Board member 

Karena Phan is an audience engagement editor at The Associated Press. In addition to managing the AP’s homepage and social media accounts, she has developed audience and promotion strategies for the AP’s election coverage and investigations. Previously, she worked as a news verification reporter at the AP, covering online misinformation, producing fact-checks and vetting user-generated videos.

Hanna Kang,
Secretary

Hanna Kang is a reporter for the LA Local, where she covers Koreatown, Pico Union, and Westlake. She previously reported on city government for the Orange County Register, also covering the 2024 presidential election. She holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Southern California.

Pam Chen,
National Advisory Board Representative

Pam Chen is vice president/news director of ABC7/KABC-TV Los Angeles and is responsible for directing the Eyewitness News team for ABC7, Southern California’s news leader. Pam is the first Asian American to lead a news department at a network-owned local station in LA. She began her career at KABC as a morning producer and has also served as executive producer and assistant news director. Since joining KABC, her leadership and direction have helped lead the newsroom to multiple regional Edward R. Murrow, Emmy, and Golden Mike awards covering some of the biggest news events affecting Southern California. She oversaw the launch and development of a community journalist program at KABC, creating innovative storytelling techniques with a hyperlocal focus on underserved communities. She was instrumental in the launch and syndication of KABC’s first weekly entertainment show, “On the Red Carpet.” Under her leadership, KABC launched a 24/7 streaming channel in 2022, logging its highest streaming day ever with 5 million minutes watched during Tropical Storm Hilary coverage in 2023. She holds a master’s degree from USC’s Marshall Business School and a bachelor’s degree from UC San Diego. She serves on the Advisory Board of the Women in Leadership Executive Program at UC Riverside. Pam is also a member of the Asian American Journalists Association. She resides in Sierra Madre with her husband, son, and two Shiba Inus.

Anh Do,
National Advisory Board Representative

Anh Do is the community engagement editor at the Los Angeles Times, working to spotlight the paper’s journalists and journalism, helping the newsroom better connect with readers and deepen its relationship with audiences. She also serves on the recruiting staff. Earlier, she spent 11 years in Metro covering Asian American issues and general assignments. A second-generation journalist, she has worked at the Seattle Times, the Orange County Register, and Nguoi Viet Daily News. Born in Saigon, Do is a graduate of USC with degrees in journalism and English. Her writing on culture and trauma has won awards from Columbia University and the Asian American Journalists Association. She received Yale’s Poynter Fellowship in Journalism and, in 2016, was part of The Times team that won a Pulitzer Prize for breaking news coverage of the San Bernardino terrorist attacks.

Emilie Takahashi,
Student Board Member (appointed)

Emilie Takahashi is a student at the University of California, Irvine, studying Literary Journalism and Environmental Science. She previously covered local news as an intern for the Orange County Register and founded UC Irvine’s chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association.

Gita Amar

Gita Amar is a senior vice president of media at GCI Health offering strategic counsel on media relations for science and technology clients. She also serves as a commentator to various BBC shows on breaking news and pop culture.  Gita has been a producer for Fox News Channel, NPR and KTTV’s Good Day LA. Gita has appeared a speaker at Wharton School of Business, Columbia University and Cal State LA. Gita holds a master’s degree from the S.I. Newhouse School of Communications, a law degree from Syracuse University College of Law and a bachelor’s degree from UCLA.

Susan Hirasuna

Susan Hirasuna is an award-winning broadcast journalist and former AAJA-LA board member. At KTTV FOX 11, she heads the weekend version of Studio 11 LA. Last year, she traveled to Japan as a fellow with the Foreign Press Center to the 2011 earthquake and tsunami area. Susan has also carved out a reputation as the resident foodie.

Gene Kang

Gene Kang is an Emmy award-winning TV reporter at KTLA5 News Los Angeles. He worked for CBS San Diego and was an anchor/reporter in Texas, Indiana, and Kentucky. His journalism career began in Chicago as an assignment editor and field producer. He is currently VP of Programming for AAJA-LA and served as AAJA-San Diego’s Marketing Director and AAJA-Chicago’s VP of Broadcast.

David Ono

David Ono is the longtime evening anchor for ABC7 Eyewitness News. You’ll find him at the helm of the top-rated 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. newscasts, as well as the number one rated show in all of Southern California, Eyewitness News at 6 p.m. An intrepid journalist and filmmaker, David has traveled the world covering some of the biggest stories of our day. He’s received 24 Emmy Awards and 8 Edward R. Murrow Awards.

Sandhya Kambhampati

Sandhya Kambhampati is a data and graphics reporter on the Los Angeles Times Data Desk, where she specializes in statistical analysis and demographic data. She previously worked at the Chronicle of Higher Education, Correctiv and ProPublica Illinois. Her co-reported work on the widespread inaccuracies in Cook County’s property tax assessment system was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for local reporting in 2018.

She trains journalists regularly in understanding the Census, statistics, freedom of information laws and data analysis. She is a 2008 AAJA J-Camp Alum and has been a general board member of the AAJA-LA chapter for the last two years.

Teresa Watanabe

Teresa Watanabe covers higher education for the L.A. Times and also has written about K-12 education, immigration, ethnic communities, religion, Japan/Korea and Pacific Rim business and economics. She previously reported on Asia, national affairs and state government for the San Jose Mercury News and wrote editorials for the L.A. Herald Examiner.

Julie Patel

Julie Patel Liss is a professor and investigative journalist. As head of Cal State LA’s journalism program, she works with her students on local watchdog projects similar to those she worked on as an investigative reporter at the Center for Public Integrity and D.C.’s NPR affiliate. Julie also worked at the South Florida Sun Sentinel and the San Jose Mercury News and has earned over 15 journalism awards and honors, including a 2008 national Emmy Award. Julie is a proud alumna of the University of Chicago, Stanford University and City Year Chicago — and has served on three AAJA chapter boards, including serving as president of AAJA-LA three times. She is on the board of the California Civic Media Program, the California Local News Fellowship and the California College Media Association. Julie was born in India, raised in Chicago and lives with her husband, also a journalist, and their two children in Long Beach. In her free time, she enjoys reading, cooking, running, dancing and spending time outdoors with her family.