Hi, I'm Sahana!
I'm a journalist who writes and codes, using R and Python to collect, analyze and present data that helps tell human stories.
I'm currently a data journalist on the Arizona Republic's investigative team, where I've covered elections and co-authored The Bitter End — an ongoing investigation chronicling how the senior living industry and state regulators violence in Arizona's nursing homes and assisted living facilities — the Republic’s flagship investigation for the year. I lead the Republic's data team, arranging team meetings, directing team goals and more.
Before the Republic, I spent a year interning with the Washington Post's data team — I started September 2022 as one of four students participating in the Post’s inaugural fall internship program. At the Post, I contributed analysis and reporting to major projects with local and national scope, from a piece about the unequal impacts of rising traffic deaths in D.C., to a Pulitzer-winning story on the people charged with taking part in the Jan. 6 Capitol Riot.
Prior to the Post, I worked as a data journalist at the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism. There, I worked on two long-term investigative projects with national impacts: One exposing how workers were left vulnerable during the pandemic, unprotected by splintered U.S. oversight; another revealing the role historically white-owned newspapers played in supporting and inciting racial terror.
I graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Maryland, with a degree in journalism and criminology & criminal justice. I’m currently on the hunt for positions where I can continue to grow, collecting, analyzing, visualizing and reporting on and around data.
I served as a data editor, staff writer, copy chief, special edition editor and deputy managing editor at The Diamondback, the University of Maryland’s student newspaper. I’ve written about city development, education, housing and crime, and penned features on community events.
When I'm not writing or coding, I'm trying to match my mom's cooking skills, reading, gardening or planning my next weekend trip. I've learned classical South Indian music (better known as Carnatic) for the past 16 years, and I love to sing.
