Before you proceed: my name is pronounced Chee-NAH-noo Oh-koh-lee and the tones are high-low-mid for my first name and low-low-low for my last. My name is Igbo, a tonal language of the tribe of the same name I belong to in Nigeria.

I’m a journalist based outside of Boston, MA. Passionate about telling the stories that matter, I hope to amplify underserved voices and help restore trust in news.

I've always loved writing and creating. Whether it's a vulnerable venture like songwriting or poetry or an essay debating cruel and clement leaders, I've always liked the idea of understanding something, putting it into words, accepting it, and maybe, sharing it.

In 2020, with widespread shutdowns and isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a renewed interest in racial justice and liberation with the police killings of unarmed Black people, I became GLUED to TV news. No amount of Elmer’s Glue-All could create a bond sufficient enough to mimic the hold 7NEWS Today in New England had on me. I did not know how to stop -- I didn’t want to, either.

TV news was no longer the background to my conversations but rather the conversation itself. Watching the local news quickly became an everyday activity -- to the point where I started sharing news on my social media pages. To the point where people started seeing me as a source of information. To the point where people started seeing me as a "journalist."

I wasn't a "journalist." At all. I had no real awareness of or even interest in the field before the pandemic. I was just doing what I always did: understanding things, putting those things into words, accepting it, and  sharing it. But people appreciated it. And I kept doing it, both for others and myself. Eventually, I realized that there was a career path that allows people to create and share critical information simultaneously -- journalism, we call it. I couldn't resist trying it, so I did and I've stuck with it since.

I currently freelance for Cambridge Day — my work for the outlet includes an investigation into allegations of discrimination and housing injustice toward an art gallery owner and a look at a development proposal that would offer funding for starving nonprofits.

I also volunteer for Randolph Community TV as a camera operator and interviewer.  From meetings and concerts to festivals and parades, I've filmed a variety of events. I won a 2024 Communicator Award in Film and Video for "Kayaking at Powers Farm", a feature I hosted and produced that looks at Randolph's summer kayaking program. 

I most recently served as the education reporting fellow at WBUR. There, I balanced quick-turn and in-depth pieces on school closures, equity initiatives, a proposed cell phone ban and other issues relevant to K-12 students, families and educators in the state.

I also recently served as Greenfield Recorder's statehouse reporter, as part of the Boston University Statehouse Program. I covered public policies and initiatives related to issues concerning agriculture, such as succession planning for aging farmers and PFAS contamination.

During my time at Boston University, I co-led our student-run radio station's programming efforts, overseeing nearly 300 on- and off-air staff. It’s there that I created Melanin Matters, a Black news-talk show and the only Black news outlet on campus. My reporting on a Haitian solidarity rally earned me an Intercollegiate Broadcasting System award nomination. I also served as campus news editor at WTBU News, where I interviewed a formerly incarcerated person on his relationship with voting, exclusively reported student tensions during Transgender Day of Remembrance and led student government election coverage in the highest voter turnout year.

I previously worked at GBH News as the News Engagement Intern, where I helped strengthen reporter-audience relationships in several Boston neighborhoods and contributed to Politics IRL, the station’s digital series focused on Gen-Z voters.

I graduated with my Bachelor of Science degree in journalism from BU in May 2025.

 - Me, August 2025, not yet knowing what fancy, alluring quote I will put on my website.