DIRECTOR | CO-FOUNDER

jen@ledenola.org

Jennifer Larino (she/her) oversees our operations, development and editorial strategy. She is a journalist with more than a decade of experience covering local news in New Orleans. Prior to founding Lede New Orleans, she was a lead reporter at NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune, and, before that, managing editor at New Orleans CityBusiness. She is a 2022 JSK Journalism Fellow at Stanford University. She lives in MId-City and can be spotted riding her bike to and from our newsroom.

OPERATIONS COORDINATOR

trevon@ledenola.org

Trevon Cole (he/him) oversees logistics, operations and supports finance for all programs. Trevon is a multimedia journalist and author. Prior to joining Lede New Orleans, he self-published two essay collections and worked as a freelance journalist for his hometown newspapers: The Houma Courier and The Daily Comet. Trevon served as a Fall 2020 Community Reporting Fellow and a Spring 2021 Senior Fellow before joining the team as Operations Coordinator.

ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMS MANAGER

mandy@ledenola.org

Mandy Ortiz (she/her) leverages her skills as an interdisciplinary storyteller, community organizer and strategist to lead the organization’s community engagement programming, including our Co-Lede and Community Storytelling & Archiving programs. Her introduction to writing came from her mother and her love of storytelling from her grandfather. Her lived experience growing up as a Puerto Rican-Mexican-American in Chicago has shaped her work in cultural narration through writing and photography. Additionally, she is Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at DAWn Audio, a New Orleans-based music-tech company.

SENIOR EDITOR

ko@ledenola.org

Ko Bragg (she/her) leads editorial strategy and management for the Lede New Orleans' Community Reporting Fellowship. Ko writes and edits stories about historical evolution of the American South. She is currently a Professor of Practice of Journalism at Tulane University and the Managing Editor of The Margin, the only newsroom exclusively focused on environmental justice in the U.S. She’s also reported for Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting, The 19th, Frontline, Columbia Journalism Review, Scalawag, and more. She lives in New Orleans with her goddaughter, but they both consider Mississippi home.

FELLOWSHIP COORDINATOR

jay@ledenola.org

Jay Marcano (they/them) organizes program planning of the community reporting fellowship and supports the growth and well-being of its fellows. As fellowship coordinator, Jay researches, develops and maintains relationships with local community groups and coordinates in-the-field reporting assignments for each cohort. As a freelance journalist, photographer and writer, Jay focuses on stories related to the environment, culture and community action groups.

DIGITAL AUDIENCE PRODUCER

ausinikka@ledenola.org

Ausinikka Hunter (she/her) oversees growth and engagement across Lede’s digital platforms. Nikka is a New Orleans-native filmmaker and producer, working at the intersection of documentary, narrative cinema and cultural storytelling. She previously worked as Associate Producer on “The Inquisitor,” which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and later broadcast nationally on Independent Lens, and is founder of Liminal Garden of Lore (LGL Studios), where she is producing and directing her narrative short debut, “GEM, A Fairytale of Myth and Memory.” Her short documentary “Orí” premiered at the New Orleans Film Festival in 2025, and she also serves on the board of Neighborhood Book Peddler, supporting community literacy and access to the arts.