Ryanne Mena

Ryanne Mena covers crime and public safety in Los Angeles.

She previously worked as a data team intern at ProPublica through the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting. She contributed to data gathering and research for several ongoing projects.

She also interned at LAist, an NPR affiliate station in Los Angeles, where she reported on education, labor unions, mental health, the environment, and the arts. She uncovered how a local school district was sitting on a large donation of Minion Beanie Babies.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from California State University, Northridge, in 2022. Before graduating, she was a part of NPR’s NextGen program, where she produced an audio narrative multimedia story on a local student beekeeper that focused on how the changing climate affects nature's pollinators. During her time as the Managing Editor of The Daily Sundial, CSUN’s student-run news publication, she spearheaded a story focusing on the experiences of people formerly detained at an ICE detention center in Adelanto, Calif. That story was honored with an award from the Hearst Journalism Awards Program.