Leah Donnella Leah Donnella is an editor on NPR's Code Switch team.
Leah
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Leah Donnella

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Leah
Deveney Williams/NPR

Leah Donnella

Editor, Code Switch

Leah Donnella is an editor on NPR's Code Switch team, where she helps produce and edit for the Code Switch podcast, blog, and newsletter. She created the "Ask Code Switch" series, where members of the team respond to listener questions about how race, identity, and culture come up in everyday life.

Donnella originally came to NPR in September 2015 as an intern for Code Switch. Prior to that, she was a summer intern at WHYY's Public Media Commons, where she helped teach high school students the ins and outs of journalism and film-making. She spent a lot of time out in the hot Philly sun tracking down unsuspecting tourists for on-the-street interviews. She also worked at the University of Pennsylvania in the department of College Houses and Academic Resources.

Donnella graduated from Pomona College with a Bachelor of Arts in Africana Studies.

Story Archive

Wednesday

Originally from Rwanda, Claude Gatebuke came to Nashville 30 years ago. Joseph Ross for NPR hide caption

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Joseph Ross for NPR

Wednesday

Thumy Phan for NPR

Wednesday

The covers of recent Code Switch summer book picks, including Hijab Butch Blues, Alma y Como Obtuvo Su Nombre, I'm Not Done With You Yet, and The Late Americans. Dial Press/Penguin Random House/Riverhead Books hide caption

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Dial Press/Penguin Random House/Riverhead Books

Wednesday

Journalist Brian de los Santos pictures in a photo collage with some of his travel documents. Dan Carino/LAist hide caption

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Dan Carino/LAist

Thursday

Beck Harlan/NPR

Books We Love: Mysteries and Thrillers

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Wednesday

Actor and comedian D'Lo performing in his one-man play, "To T or Not to T." Mikel Darling hide caption

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Mikel Darling

Tuesday

Black immigrants to the U.S. are growing in numbers, but they don't feel understood

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Sunday

Left: A Tennessee Historical Commission marker honors the site of Greenwood Park, which was the first city park to serve Nashville's Black residents and was established by Preston Taylor in 1905. Right: Learotha Williams is a public historian at Tennessee State University in Nashville. Joseph Ross for NPR hide caption

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Joseph Ross for NPR

Wednesday

Author Ava Chin poses next to the cover of her recent book, Mott Street: A Chinese American Family's Story of Exclusion and Homecoming Author headshot via Tommy Kha hide caption

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Author headshot via Tommy Kha

Wednesday

Joan Suzuki, the grandmother of reporter Kori Suzuki, who was born and raised in the U.S., but lived in Japan during World War II. Kori Suzuki hide caption

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Kori Suzuki

Friday

Vehicles travel on Interstate 240 after the morning rush hour on a weekday in Memphis, Tenn. Highways are the fastest — and in some cases, the only — way to get from one place to another in the sprawling city. Ariel Cobbert for NPR hide caption

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Ariel Cobbert for NPR

In Tennessee, Black immigrants navigate a tricky course to a coveted driver's license

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When she first arrived in the U.S. decades ago, Queen Titile Keskessa didn't know who Martin Luther King Jr. was. Today, she is inspired by his legacy and the work of other African American civil rights icons. Ariel Cobbert for NPR hide caption

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Ariel Cobbert for NPR

Reporter's notebook: The South is home to a growing Black immigrant population

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Thursday

Books We Love: Tales From Around the World. Becky Harlan/NPR hide caption

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Becky Harlan/NPR

Books We Love: Tales From Around The World

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Monday

The hurdles Black immigrants face to drive in the U.S.

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Sunday

Black immigrants reflect on navigating their identities in the American South

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Wednesday

In LAist's podcast California Love: K-Pop Dreaming, host Vivian Yoon tells the story of the origins of K-Pop. LAist/NPR hide caption

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LAist/NPR

Wednesday

Psychiatrist Pooja Lakshmin next to the cover of her new book, Real Self Care (Crystals, Cleanses and Bubble Baths Not Included.) Courtesy of the publisher hide caption

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Courtesy of the publisher

Wednesday

Malaka Gharib/NPR

The tricky obligations of utang na loob

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Wednesday

Wanda Irving holds her granddaughter, Soleil, in front of a portrait of Soleil's mother, Shalon, at her home in Sandy Springs, Ga. Wanda is raising Soleil since Shalon died of complications due to hypertension a few weeks after giving birth. Becky Harlan/NPR hide caption

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Becky Harlan/NPR

Wednesday

Little, Brown and Company

Saturday

Need a new mystery or sci-fi book for the new year? Try one of these reads

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Wednesday

There are a lot of TV shows to watch out there - so the Code Switch team isn't trying to bring you a list of the "best." But we are here to talk about some of the shows we watched this year that we loved. Sophia Pappas for NPR hide caption

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Sophia Pappas for NPR

Wednesday

Cindy Ord/Getty Images

Wednesday

A young Native American woman sits in a museum display case alongside artifacts and human remains. Gabriella Trujillo for NPR hide caption

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Gabriella Trujillo for NPR

Skeletons in the closet, revisited

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