Tessa Paoli

I'm an independent audio producer based in the Bay Area. I've produced stories for NPR, Snap Judgment, KALW, Capital Public Radio and Northern California Public Media. I completed my master's in journalism at UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. I teach journalism classes inside San Quentin Prison's Media Center.

I love to produce stories that center mental health, housing and the criminal justice system in an effort to destigmatize and humanize.

Snap Judgment • 1st October 2020

The Hitchhiker's Guide to America

A man walks off the side of a California highway, deep into the patchy grassland, to build a life away from the rest of the world.

KALW • 10th August 2020

One Richmond Family Rides Out The Pandemic On A Converted School Bus

In the third month of shelter in place, some people are anxious to go outside and see friends. Others have to think about where they’ll park their home each night and how to get clean water for showers. Constance Johnson and her kids have been riding out the pandemic on a converted school bus in Richmond.

Snap Judgment presents: Spooked • 8th December 2022

The Guest Room

Kou loves when it’s time to load into his mom’s car and head to his grandparents’ house for the summer. But he never could have imagined who would be showing up at all hours of the night.

NPR • 3rd August 2022

"As Russians approach his town, 'the cat must still be fed.'"

A hyperlocal news site in Red Hook, N.Y. posts a job opening. A journalist in Ukraine applies. And what readers think of as "local news" is going to change.

NPR • 3rd February 2023

Ukraine: The Handoff

In Part 1 of our series, we followed the surreptitious journey of abortion pills into Ukraine in the early months after the Russian invasion. In this second part, Rough Translation host Gregory Warner and reporter Katz Laszlo land in Lviv, Ukraine, on a fall night during a citywide blackout, to continue following the pills, and find out about the doctors and patients who needed them.

NPR • 20th January 2023

Ukraine: Under The Counter

In the weeks following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a young doctor in Germany read that abortion pills were urgently needed. She knew that the pills, mifepristone and misoprostol, are considered essential medications, and are legal in Ukraine. But getting the life-saving drugs into a country at war meant getting creative. So Vicki and her boyfriend Ari called on friends and strangers to pull off a high-stakes medical mission that unfolded in a legal gray zone.

VICE News • 4th November 2019

Delivering babies — and saving lives — in Puerto Rico after Maria

NPR • 15th April 2022

The Scarf and the Snuffbox

The Scarf and the Snuffbox In the early days of the war against Ukraine, standing on the street in Russia with a "no war" sign was illegal. But what about holding up a blank piece of paper or an image of four ballerinas? Rather than staying quiet, Russian anti-war protesters are developing new ways to resist through coded messages. In this episode we bring you a conversation with Alexandra Arkhipova, an anthropologist who studies, collects and shares instances of "semiotic war" in a country wh

The New York Times • 21st September 2020

An Update on Project Roomkey in Tuolumne County

The stability Old Oak Ranch provided to several dozen people, including Ms. Nadolsky, vanished in a matter of hours just as a resurgence in coronavirus infections swept through California in June.