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Natalie Skowlund

Journalist / Editor / Translator

Award-winning bilingual journalist focused on multimedia storytelling across the Americas. Experience in multimedia reporting, editing, bilingual translation, social media and newsletters. Natalie previously worked also a Fulbright scholar in Colombia. Her work has been recognized by the Indigenous Journalists Association, Association of Health Care Journalists, Society of Professional Journalists, Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association, Colorado Broadcasters Association, and Broadcast Education Association.

The World from PRX •

How a historic ‘magical bean’ is helping Indigenous groups in Colombia

It’s lunchtime for students at the only school in the small village of Ishashimana, Colombia. Students chow down on plates of rice and lentils at long tables in the cafeteria. This meal will help power the school’s 1,800 pupils through the rest of their day of exams. Although lentils take center stage today, another legume traditional to the Indigenous Wayuu people who live in this region put the small town of Ishashimana and its school on the map. “We worked with the Guajiro bean,” the Ishashim...
The World from PRX •

Cut to USAID funding affects rural regions of Colombia

Kevin Rivadeneira leans over the side of a canoe floating in the Laguna Grande, or Great Lake. He points toward a flock of pink birds in the distance. “Check out the flamingos,” Rivadeneira said in Spanish.Indeed, hundreds of pink flamingos bob in the salty water. This is why thousands of tourists come to the Flora and Fauna Flamingo Sanctuary in Colombia’s remote La Guajira region every year. Rivadeneira runs a local eco-tourism agency here called Perlaguaneque. Since 2020, he’s worked with a t...
The World from PRX •

Companies pursuing renewable energy development in Colombia must work with Indigenous communities

Between high wind speeds and lots of sunlight, La Guajira — a desert region along Colombia’s Caribbean coast — is considered one of the world’s most promising locations for wind and solar energy projects. Dozens of renewable energy projects are at various stages of development in the region, and at least 40 wind farms are projected to begin operations within the next decade. Currently, only one 10-turbine wind farm is operating.Felipe Gonzalez Penagos, the La Guajira regional manager for Colombi...
New Lines Magazine •

Renewal Is Not the Whole Story of Medellin’s Comuna 13

In the hills overlooking Medellin, Colombia’s second-largest city, with roughly 4 million residents and a growing expat community, a sprawling bald patch of dirt called La Escombrera, or “the dump,” glares down toward the city’s valley floor, crowded with skyscrapers and brick apartment buildings. Luis Fernando Álvarez, or El Aka as he is better known, sees it wherever he goes in his home city. The large dirt mound looming over the city also looms over him. “It’s like an open wound,” he told New...
SciLine •

How scientific evidence can improve your immigration reporting

With immigration policy upended this year and the ramifications playing out in communities across the country, journalists face a daunting task in confronting a highly politicized topic on behalf of a polarized and skeptical audience.
Journalists can move beyond that political back-and-forth and more effectively combat misinformation and disinformation about the issue by turning to something one might not immediately consider when talking about immigration: scientific evidenc...
NPR •

Cuts to federal grants affecting even non-profits that don't get them

Three times a week, Armando Guardiola wakes in the bleary morning hours and pulls on his clothes. The retired railroad worker traipses around his yellow ranch-style home in Commerce City, Colorado, making last-minute preparations before a public shuttle arrives. He's heading to an early shift, and he can't be late — his life depends on it. By 7:30 a.m., Guardiola is at a kidney dialysis clinic in Westminster. The 71-year-old spends hours at a time here, in a room where close to 20 strangers...
KFF Health News •

Deportation fears add to mental health problems confronting Colorado resort town workers

SILVERTHORNE, Colo. — When Adolfo Román García-Ramírez walks home in the evening from his shift at a grocery store in this central Colorado mountain town, sometimes he thinks back on his childhood in Nicaragua. Adults, he recollects, would scare the kids with tales of the “Mona Bruja,” or “Monkey Witch.” Step too far into the dark, they told him, and you might just get snatched up by the giant monstrous monkey who lives in the shadows.
Now, when...
Colorado Public Radio •

How Latino seniors are beating loneliness in Denver

Three times a week, Armando Guardiola wakes in the bleary morning hours and pulls on his clothes. The retired railroad worker traipses around his yellow ranch-style home in Commerce City making last-minute preparations before a public shuttle arrives.He’s heading to an early shift, and he can’t be late — his life depends on it.By 7:30 a.m., Guardiola is at a kidney dialysis clinic in Westminster. The 71-year-old spends hours at a time here, in a room where close...

Awards & Recognition