Emma Garcia

Emma Garcia joined the KAZU News team in August 2023.

Emma was born and raised in Salinas, California and started her career on the Central Coast as production assistant/video editor, and breaking news videographer. She also freelanced for: Voice of Monterey Bay, the Lutrinae, The Salinas Californian, The Oaklandside, Bay News Rising, and Oakland North.

During her career, Emma has helped contributed to many important stories including historic California wildfires, gun and gang violence, Black Lives Matter, and reporting on the pandemic for the Lutrinae.

She received a bachelor’s degree from the Cal State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB) in Humanities and Communication (HCOM) with a concentration in Journalism & Media along with Legal Studies. At CSUMB Emma was a Pay it Forward Scholar, Florence C. & Alwin Krause Scholar, and was named 2022 Outstanding Future Alumni amongst many other awards.

Emma is finishing her masters program at UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism emphasizing in short form documentary making. During her time at she was award the Deans Fellowship and has done stories focused on Deported Veterans, social justice, women empowerment, food insecurity, and investigative journalism.

Emma is passionate about reporting on local government, and anything hyper local to the community. Her primary focus is on the Salinas Valley.

In her free time, she enjoys trying new foods, exploring new places, spending time with friends, and family along with going to farmers markets.