JOURNALIST - EDITOR - PROFESSOR - STORYTELLER

MALLORY CARRA

AVAILABLE FOR ASSIGNMENT

Mallory Carra is an award-winning journalist, editor, and professor based in Los Angeles with nearly 20 years of professional experience across digital, audio, and print. She is an adjunct professor at the USC Annenberg School of Journalism’s Annenberg Media Center, where she teaches a core curriculum live reporting and writing class, coaches Annenberg Radio News, and serves as the faculty advisor for elevASIAN, the Asian and Pacific Islander vertical. She also runs West Coast Media Jobs, a journalism jobs newsletter focusing on California and the Pacific Northwest.

Additionally, she’s currently the lead producer of former USC Provost and Professor of Chemical Engineering Chip Zukoski’s Imperial Valley podcast about how lithium extraction will affect the community and climate change at large, to be released in early 2024. It’s a co-production with Annenberg, Viterbi School of Engineering, and Annenberg’s Center for Climate Journalism and Communication.

For over 5 years, Mallory wrote and edited weekly and daily podcast scripts for Spotify’s Parcast Studios until its closure in Summer 2023. Outside of writing, she served on the Spotify Asian Community Engagement (SPACE) steering committee as the LA Office Lead. Additionally, she was a fellow in the 2023 cohort of the Asian American Journalists Association’s prestigious Executive Leadership Program (ELP) and an instructor/editor for the college student journalism program, VOICES.

As a journalist and editor herself, Mallory has pretty much covered it all: breaking news, entertainment, celebrities, food, lifestyle, e-commerce, real estate, sports, health, and academia for media outlets such as the BBC World Service, E! News, Cosmopolitan, Teen Vogue, the New York Daily News, and the Columbia Journalism Review, among many others. She worked as an entertainment editor at Bustle for over 5 years and began her journalism career in newspapers as a staff writer for the Chattanooga Times Free Press in Tennessee and the News & Observer in North Carolina.

A native of New York City, Mallory has an M.F.A. in screenwriting from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts and a B.A. in journalism from New York University. Additionally, she earned a certificate in podcasting from UC Berkeley’s Advanced Media Institute.

She is a proud longtime member of the Asian American Journalists Association and the Writers Guild of America.

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Podcasting & Audio

For over 5 years, Mallory wrote and edited scripted true crime and dark history podcasts for Spotify’s Parcast Studios on a freelance, then full-time basis. She earned a certificate from UC Berkeley’s Advanced Media Institute in Podcasting: Telling Stories in Sound.

Mallory has also contributed work to the BBC World Service’s Outside Source during the #MeToo era and appeared on-mic as a guest several times, including during their Oscars coverage. She has appeared on NPR stations and the LAist Studios podcast, How to LA.

Mallory has taught audio storytelling at USC Annenberg and at AAJA VOICES.

She is available for podcast consulting services.

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Portfolio

Mallory’s work has appeared in many, many digital media outlets, podcast networks, and newspapers across the country over the past 20 years.

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Teaching, Mentorship, & Career Talks

Mallory is an adjunct journalism professor at the USC Annenberg School of Journalism, teaching audio and digital journalism. She is an instructor and radio coach for JOUR 206 Live Writing and Reporting, a core curriculum class where students write and report on news stories for a daily podcast and TV news broadcast. Mallory is also the faculty advisor for elevASIAN, the Asian and Pacific Islander vertical. Previously, she was a writing coach for JOUR 206 Community Reporting.

Outside of USC, Mallory has given in career and mentorship talks at the NYU Wasserman Career Center, the NYU Production Lab, the Asian American Journalists Association, and the Grand Arts Media Symposium. In 2023, she served as an instructor/editor for the Asian American Journalists Association’s student program, VOICES.

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Celebrity Interviews

Mallory has interviewed many, many celebrities throughout her career during one-on-one sit-downs, red carpet premieres, set visits, press events, and film and TV junkets, both on-camera and for print.

Among the celebs she’s interviewed are: Melissa McCarthy, Elisabeth Moss, Rachel Bloom, Alfre Woodard, Charlize Theron, Seth Rogen, Tracy Morgan, Nick Jonas, Casey Wilson, June Diane Raphael, Amy Sedaris, Diane Lane, Constance Zimmer, Dacre Montgomery, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jon Favreau, Vanessa Kirby, Kellie Martin, Ian Ziering, and a lot more.

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Independent Creative Projects

COUCH POTATO COOK

COUCH POTATO COOK

Since 2013, Mallory has been running the food/pop culture website and Instagram Couch Potato Cook, which features food news and interviews with food personalities in LA & NYC. It has partnered with brands such as American Express, Walgreens, and Lee Kum Kee. (Podcast coming soon!)

Featured on Food Network, Teen Vogue, Gizmodo, and more.

VISIT COUCHPOTATOCOOK.COM
WEST COAST MEDIA JOBS

WEST COAST MEDIA JOBS

With over 1,400 subscribers, Mallory’s newsletter focuses on helping journalism job seekers in California and the Pacific Northwest find local and remote open roles in media. It’s sent out every Wednesday through Substack.

Featured in Poynter, Indeed, Contently, and NBCU Academy.

WEST COAST MEDIA JOBS ON SUBSTACK

SCREENWRITING & OTHER CREATIVE WRITING

Mallory graduated USC’s School of Cinematic Arts with an MFA in Writing for Screen and Television from and has written screenplays and teleplays on the side for over a decade. She’ll also occasionally publish a personal essay on Medium.

Mallory is currently working on a mystery/thriller novel.

CREATIVE WRITING WORK
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Services

Let’s work together.

Writing & Editing

  • Journalism: Reporting & editing breaking news articles, covering sporting events, red carpets, premieres, junkets & more.
  • Podcasting: Writing clean, engaging scripts for complex true stories
  • Copywriting: Press releases and social media copy

Consulting & Coaching

  • Career development coaching for students and early to mid-career journalists
  • Editorial and newsroom consulting
  • Podcast development, producing, writing, & consulting
  • Resume and LinkedIn reviews
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Let's Connect

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Get In Touch

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