Every headline hides a human story. Behind the Byline pulls back the curtain on the people who turn ideas into the words, videos, and posts we can’t stop consuming.
Each episode features an intimate conversation with an influential journalist, writer, videographer, or other content creator. We explore how they got started, the lessons they learned along the way, and what it really takes to keep creating in an industry that never stands still.
For anyone who loves stories—or the people brave enough to tell them.
Emmy Award-winning journalist and communications leader Maria Cid Medina brings a storyteller’s curiosity to every conversation. With experience spanning print, digital, and broadcast media, she connects with guests as peers to reveal the real, unfiltered stories behind creative success.
Sprinting a Marathon: Alex Konrad on Building a Media Brand
Alex Konrad spent 12 years at Forbes covering the startup ecosystem before walking away to build Upstarts Media, a publication on his own terms. He shares what it takes to strike out alone, the counterintuitive advice from an 80-year-old billionaire CEO that shapes the rhythm of his days, and why independent media is part of the answer – but not all of it.
https://www.newsbreak.com/podcast (https://www.newsbreak.com/podcast)
31 Mar 2026
From Poet to Reporter
What happens when a poet follows her curiosity instead of a plan? Julie Wernau—formerly of the WSJ and Chicago Tribune and now health reporter and producer at Tradeoffs (https://tradeoffs.org/)—shares how that instinct took her across beats and around the world, and why compassion and curiosity still define great journalism in the AI era.
4 Mar 2026
Reviving Local Journalism: Tracey Taylor on Nonprofit News
What does it take to fill the local news gap when two U.S. papers close every week? Tracey Taylor, co-founder of Berkeleyside and chief content officer of Cityside, has spent 17 years building a nonprofit alternative – three Bay Area newsrooms, 30 staff, every story free.
9 Jan 2026
From Capitol Hill to TikTok: How Camila DeChalus Reaches Modern News Audiences
In this episode of Behind the Byline, we sit down with Camila DeChalus, national political reporter at CNN, to talk about what journalism really looks like behind the scenes. From covering Capitol Hill and government shutdowns to explaining complex political news on social media, Camila shares how she’s adapting to a rapidly changing media landscape.
We discuss building trust with audiences, balancing TV reporting with digital storytelling, navigating motherhood in a demanding newsroom, and why meeting people where they are is the future of journalism.
Follow Camila for more:
https://www.instagram.com/camiladechalus/?hl=en (https://www.instagram.com/camiladechalus/?hl=en)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/camiladechalus/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/camiladechalus/)
https://www.tiktok.com/@camiladechalus?lang=en (https://www.tiktok.com/@camiladechalus?lang=en)
https://x.com/cdechalus?lang=en (https://x.com/cdechalus?lang=en)
23 Dec 2025
NBC News Reporter Morgan Chesky: When the Story Is Personal
In Episode 3 of NewsBreak’s Behind the Byline podcast, Morgan shares how watching legendary news broadcasters Peter Jennings and Dan Rather with his grandparents sparked a dream that seemed too big to say out loud in small-town Texas. Now an NBC national correspondent based in LA, Morgan has covered everything from solar eclipses at 30,000 feet to the Uvalde school shooting.
In this conversation:
Learning on the job – and relearning with every move to a new station and market
Leaning into social media – by reusing the skills he acquired as a one-man-band video journalist
Giving yourself grace – both when building your skills over time and when recovering from stories that hit too close to home
You’ll also hear about Morgan’s most challenging assignment. When catastrophic floods struck his hometown of Kerrville in July 2025, he was forced to navigate the impossible balance between professional duty and personal grief. That meant doing right by the community through fair and accurate coverage, but also taking time afterwards to heal with family.
If you’re interested in the new media landscape or what it takes to build a platform that connects with audiences over time, listen to Behind the Byline.
9 Dec 2025
Inside Silicon Valley: Emily Chang on Women, Power, and Accountability
In a fast-changing media landscape, Emily Chang, best-selling author of Brotopia and now host and executive producer of Bloomberg’s The Circuit. Emily has carved her own path and emerged as one of tech journalism’s leading voices – the reporter that industry heavyweights and celebrities trust to tell their stories.
In this conversation:
How to ask powerful people tough questions (without alienating them)
What finding your niche and working backwards from what you want looks like
What happened after a top VC’s on-air claim that qualified women investors simply didn’t exist went viral.
Emily reveals her unique approach to getting beyond the typical interview – creating moments where people show who they really are in a way that goes deeper than any friendly podcast ever could, whether that's wakesurfing with Mark Zuckerberg or exploring what drives Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex.
18 Nov 2025
From Refugee to Reporter: Vicky Nguyen
Vicky Nguyen joins us to talk about her path from refugee to Emmy-winning NBC News correspondent, the stories that changed her, and how her memoir Boat Baby celebrates resilience, family, and the power of storytelling
Boat Baby: https://www.simonandschuster.com/book (https://www.simonandschuster.com/book)... (https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbXJuS1BRS2J4cTFZT1d6bXd2aXBKSmdCY2UtZ3xBQ3Jtc0ttQVI0WGJZWlVpY0l5SmlJUkVBWWozSWhmVEkzb0JyNl9WZzMxMlVxbHdVZDUzcldUVFpJYTNZSkhuVm9veWhDX0JJM08yOFNRaXc5ZEhZTS1GcjAtaDI0NnBWS3J6eEh6aDVFR3BQTUVkbHQ0Rk50TQ&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.simonandschuster.com%2Fbooks%2FBoat-Baby%2FVicky-Nguyen%2F9781668025567&v=2yM1EnOaty4) Follow Vicky: Website: https://www.vickynguyen.com/ (https://www.vickynguyen.com/) Social handles: https://www.instagram.com/vickynguyen (https://www.instagram.com/vickynguyen)... (https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqa2YtejYxT3FoZGtwMWZuSEFjNDV4RHhLM1JfZ3xBQ3Jtc0tuNmtCRk9sQlEzNFowZW5JMzVPMDhxdkFueFFHM2wxUnFNUWlzQlVIMDhUMmxxTHQ3b1NoSTBIa08zaFhZSVJOQ1JDaXVPbXV4Ujk2cXpjSDM5OXV4a0VIR0xweTRXRFY1WXVYMzNlQVZmZ2FhazR3WQ&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.instagram.com%2Fvickynguyentv%2F%3Fhl%3Den&v=2yM1EnOaty4) / vickynguyentv (https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbnlDbkVrbHlMODFEZ1VKamVoNW9GRFIyVl9IUXxBQ3Jtc0tuZzlFZkpoZ1EyOVNnTE1HZjFMN3NpeXVmc1RPSVVuU3hUZzRsS0dWYVlNdlpZUDIxY2FuNjdmbjluRkVEMy05MkNWWGxGcDhsTmRfR2hNWWpXcWI0N0ptTlNwLXotMjRzbXVnNGVIeVlqQ3ozdVZJTQ&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FvickynguyenTV%2F&v=2yM1EnOaty4) / vickydnguyen (https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbFdOaFdZWktHU0tqMWVUeWlXS1VsOXRWa2dVQXxBQ3Jtc0tuZUNCTVR5c0JJbnNub3pLMnkwT01UZ1poa0FzZ0g0bDFhcXpiM1RrWWI1YWFNQlhJRkxVUjk5UmdzNmVrejNKN2xMcGhTaHFrVEU2V1hrUUpRUlpMR0pWc1g2MnRzNkFQWnR2c0pOdUF5bUphUXVvbw&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fin%2Fvickydnguyen%2F&v=2yM1EnOaty4) https://x.com/VickyNguyenTV (https://x.com/VickyNguyenTV)
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