Allison Herrera

Where are you based and what do you do?

This is going to sound like a funny answer, but I am based in three different places. Minneapolis, Denver, and Tulsa, Okla. 

Let me explain. My home and where I live with my 12-year-old daughter is in Minneapolis. I call Tulsa my second home because 4 years ago, my Localore project Invisible Nations happened there. I fell in love with Oklahoma and have friends and people that I love there. I'm in the middle of a few projects there right now. My day job is editor of the climate and environment team at Colorado Public Radio. 

A piece of yours (in any medium!) that you would like to share? 

I'm very proud of this collaboration I was part of when I worked at PRI/PRX's The World: Advocates strive to raise awareness about missing and murdered Indigenous women in the US and Canada.

I was very excited to work with Al Jazeera's documentary unit known as Fault Lines on this piece-It was a radio, digital and video investigation into why so many Indigenous women in the US and Canada have gone missing. In a week's time, myself, the producer and our camera person traveled to three different states and talked with family member affected by this crisis. It was an incredible experience I will never forget-talking to women who've lost their children, their sisters, their nieces, their aunts, their mothers and grandmother's. As a journalist, I was so blown away at how much people trusted us to tell their story. 

What draws you to storytelling?

When I was young, my grandmother and I would people watch together from the car window while my mom was running errands or grocery shopping. That experience of observing people, guessing about what their lives were like (and kind of being nosy) stayed with me. I wanted to know.

As storytellers and journalists, we're in a unique and special position to get people to realize things about themselves or reveal truths others cannot. That's a powerful position that I am both humbled by and drawn to. 

What’s playing on your radio/audio streaming service right now?

Right now it's the classical station (weird I know!) But, since we're in the middle of a national emergency and encouraged to stay at home and stay safe amidst this global pandemic, I'm listening to a lot of local and national news. I also listen to PRI's The World, The Daily, Fresh Air and the BBC. 

However, I'm also trying to finish two podcast series that were created a couple of years ago. One is by this amazing journalist named Allen J Clarke. He's a Muruwari and Gomeroi investigative journalist who made this amazing podcast called Unravel: Blood on the Tracks about the murder of an Aboriginal boy that happened outside Tamworth Australia in the 1980s. It was an unsolved case, but Clarke looked further and found that police and others barely investigated this crime. 

The other is Finding Cleo by Connie Walker created by CBC Radio. 

Also, Midnight Sun by my Localore colleagues Isaac Kestenbaum and Josie Holtzman

What’s the most underrated tool (technical or not!) you use in your creative practice?

Well, because we're all doing radio from our home the most underrated tool in my book is a blanket! To get a nice quiet track from my closet. That and a nice pillow.

What is something you want to see more of in the industry?

I would like to see more Indigenous journalists and storytellers in this industry.