We're thrilled to welcome this year's cohort for KALW's Audio Academy! After two intensive days of orientation, they are all set to dive into their assignments within our news department. Over the next nine-and-a-half months, they'll be learning to report the news and produce longform audio feature that you can catch on our airwaves and online. We can't wait to showcase their talent on the airwaves very soon!
Here they are — in their own words.
Stafford Hemmer (he/him)
Stafford is a native of Washington DC, but has called San Francisco home since 1994. He is a graduate of Georgetown University (School of Foreign Service) and he attended the Diplomatic Academy (Vienna, Austria). His work experience includes work at the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Georgetown University, Bank of America, and GateCapital, LLC. However, he became a self-employed German-English translator/language services provider (LSP) in 2001. He served on the Board of the Northern California Translators Association and was frequent contributor to their newsletters and those of the American Translators Association (ATA). A listener of KALW since 1994, Stafford is an avid and dedicated volunteer for KALW’s 220 Live Events space. He was a competitive swimmer for 20+ years, and also enjoyed rowing, Muay thai, boxing, running, bodybuilding, and cycling. He is an active volunteer with the Castro Country Club and the Leather Cultural and Historic District
Arlen Levy (she/her)
Arlen Levy is a multi-media artist, performer and journalist born and raised in the Bay Area. For the past eight years she has lived and worked between San Francisco, Ukraine, and Budapest, documenting and contributing to their underground music and arts scenes. She has a special interest in post-internet culture in the former eastern bloc and has mastered several Slavic languages as part of her research and performance practice.
Her work often explores the inverse economic relationship between her countries of interest: the Bay Area-based tech boom of the 2000s and its subsequent outsourcing of labor to Eastern Europe. She enjoys investigating these interdependent economies and the way they affect the creative output of the avant-garde.
Cara Nguyen (they/them)
Cara Nguyen is committed to documenting the people, landscapes, melodies, and histories that make a place home. They are San Jose-born, Seattle-educated, Oakland-based, and Saigon-rooted.
Cara is a multidisciplinary artist that produces community events, printed materials, and an internet radio show (HUSH! on Lower Grand Radio) often in collaboration with other diasporic Vietnamese organizers.
Their work weaves together an academic background in economics, a creative inclination towards music, and a sense of responsibility rooted in cultural preservation.
Rachel Longan (she/her)
Rachel Longan is a Licensed Marriage Family Therapist who currently owns a thriving private psychotherapy practice in Berkeley, California. Rachel believes that all people have the potential to live fully and find joy in relationships, community, family, and creative endeavors.
Rachel currently serves on the board of Directors for the Developmental Disabilities Planning and Advisory Council for Alameda County. She is a recipient of the Lura Gund Award for her leadership contributions in the Blind Leaders Development Program with the American Foundation for the Blind.
In her spare time, Rachel enjoys taking long walks, smelling the sweet fragrance of wisteria, teaching herself to play the ukulele, and embarking on elaborate cooking projects.
Jordan Karnes (they/them)
Jordan Karnes is a 2025-2026 Audio Academy Fellow. They are the author of It Hasn’t Stopped Being California Here (Carville Annex Press) and More Silver Than Gold (Finishing Line Press). Their work has appeared in the Believer Magazine, New Life Quarterly, and at the Prelinger Library’s Place Talks lecture series. They are the Chair of the Literary Arts Department at Oakland School for the Arts where they teach poetry, journalism, and creative nonfiction to middle and high school students.
Anna Gabriella Casalme (she/her)
Anna Gabriella Casalme is a writer and educator committed to lifting up diverse stories and storytelling in all sorts of formats, now including public radio. She is the founder and managing director of Novelly Publishing & Youth Authors Week, which publishes and advocates for teen authors. She received her BA in Human Biology and Education from Stanford University and her MSc in Childhood Studies from the University of Edinburgh. She lives in San Francisco, where her favorite thing to do is take classes for fun at City College.
Viviana Vivas (she/they)
Viviana Vivas is an educator, writer, and DJ Host for Amor Mio on BFF.fm. Through her involvement with BFF, Viviana's passion for music was nurtured even more. As a new Audio Academy Fellow, Viviana hopes to weave her journalism skills with her audio experience to tell stories that can continue to represent her surrounding community. In her free time, she loves to ride her fixie, draw with oil pastels, and cook yummy recipes.
Rae Kim (she/her)
Rae Kim is an audio journalist who got her start in radio at Berkeley's KALX. Through story and sound, she seeks to advocate for housing, public space, public transportation, and abolition. She likes to bike to the local branch of the public library and sing along to music.