BIO

Ariana Pekary is an award-winning journalist, writer, and content developer. She worked in public radio for 12 years before shifting to cable news where she became an integral member of a primetime show at MSNBC. In September 2020, after resigning from television news, she joined Columbia Journalism Review as a public editor. She also writes for Current.org, covering public media, creates SEO content and content strategies, and teaches yoga.

 

Ariana's broadcast career began in 2002 at NPR where she assisted the Ombudsman to assess editorial content. Ariana learned from the best at NPR, KQED and KALW Radio in San Francisco before joining The Bob Edwards Show at Sirius XM in 2007. There, thanks to her ear for captivating human moments, she produced several highly-acclaimed documentaries, earning RTDNA Murrow, SPJ Sigma Delta Chi, and RFK awards. In 2013, she helped launch a new program hosted by Alec Baldwin at MSNBC, making her an accidental TV news producer. Long before any of that, Ariana was a Series 7-licensed Financial Advisor for Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, which taught her that financial reward is not what motivates her.

 

Ariana thrives on distilling stories that get to the root of the matter through facts and context. Raised on a farm in Virginia, she brings a sensible pragmatism and heartfelt dedication to each project and isn't afraid to get her hands dirty.