Eli Chen
Digital News ProducerEli Chen is WUNC’s afternoon digital news producer. Hailing from the northwest suburbs of Chicago, she is a Taiwanese American journalist who’s worked mainly in audio for more than a decade. She comes most recently from National Geographic, where she was the senior editor of Overheard, which won the 2022 Ambies Award for the best science and knowledge podcast. Prior to that, Eli covered science and environmental issues at St. Louis Public Radio and Delaware Public Media, and produced segments for Science Friday. While in St. Louis, she helped launch live storytelling shows there with the science communication nonprofit and podcast, The Story Collider. And she has served as a regular mentor with the NPR’s Next Generation Radio project since 2017. Eli has a bachelor’s degree in creative writing and environmental sustainability from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a master’s in journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism in New York.
Eli lives with her partner, Matt, and cat-like pitbull mix Rosie in Chapel Hill, and likes to draw, rollerskate, and celebrate Asian American food and pop culture on the regular. You can follow her on X @StoriesByEli and instagram @elichenreports.
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A group of mostly young Asian refugees are cooking meals for families whose homes at a public housing community on South Estes Drive in Chapel Hill were flooded earlier this month due to Tropical Storm Chantal. -
For children of long-term visa holders who've waited years to be approved for green cards, graduating college represents a challenging transition period of trying to find work or be approved for new visas in order to stay in the country. And for those graduating this year, that transition has become more challenging under the Trump administration's approach to immigration. -
After 35 years in operation, Neo-China in Durham closed its doors at the end of May. The family-owned Chinese restaurant struggled to keep up with rising operational costs, including the increased prices of imported Chinese goods that resulted from the high tariff earlier this spring. -
Durham-based visual artist Raj Bunnag, a self-described “political printmaker,” creates works with a strong perspective about history and the presence of white supremacy in our society. That hasn’t posed an issue with showing his work at galleries until this year, when he had two exhibitions canceled, including at the North Carolina Museum of Art. -
The NorthStar Church of the Arts in Durham, along with scores of other arts organizations across the country, was notified in early May that it would lose federal funding. In the last week, the organization launched an emergency campaign to raise the money it needs to keep hosting free community programming. -
Efforts to mandate Asian American Pacific Islander history in North Carolina schools continue to be stalled on the state level. Meanwhile, Green Hope High School in Cary plans to pilot the Asian American history elective for Wake County Public Schools this fall. -
The prices of imported goods are almost certain to go up, as tariffs from the U.S. take effect. While President Trump has instated a 90-day pause, it doesn’t apply to a 145% tariff on China, as Eli Chen reports. -
Small businesses that depend on imported Chinese goods, like Asian restaurants and grocery stores, are grappling with rising costs due to the 145% tariff on China. -
The number of Asian grocery stores and supermarkets in the NC Triangle have grown significantly since the 1990s, reflecting the rapid growth of the Asian population in the area. The stores have also become gathering spaces for folks across the diaspora, looking for flavors that remind them of home. -
After much community anticipation, the Wheels Roller Skating Rink in east Durham is reopening under city ownership. Roller rinks across the country have declined drastically since the 1990s. Since then, North Carolina has lost roughly half of its rinks.
