Our Staff
Adeshina Emmanuel, editor-in-chief
Adeshina is the editor-in-chief at Injustice Watch. He was born and raised in the Uptown neighborhood on Chicago’s North Side by an African-American mother and Nigerian father and studied journalism at Loyola University Chicago. His work over the past decade has spanned hyperlocal and national reporting with a focus on race, class, and institutional injustice. Before coming to Injustice Watch in 2019, Adeshina covered education at Chalkbeat, was an investigative reporter at the Chicago Reporter, and a neighborhood reporter at DNAinfo Chicago. He has also worked at the Chicago Sun-Times and the New York Times. His work has been published by various local and national outlets, including the Chicago Reader, Ebony Magazine, In These Times, the Columbia Journalism Review, Nieman Reports, the Washington Post, Parts Unknown, and the South Side Weekly.
Read Adeshina’s stories. Follow him on Twitter. Send him an email.
Amanda Miley, director of development and operations
Amanda is the director of development and operations at Injustice Watch, where she is responsible for fundraising, strategic initiatives, and the day-to-day operations of the organization. Born and raised in Rockford, Illinois, Amanda moved to Chicago in 2009, and has lived here ever since. Prior to joining Injustice Watch in 2017, Amanda worked for several Chicago-based nonprofit organizations and has more than ten years of experience in nonprofit management and fundraising. She currently lives in Ravenswood with her husband and their two cats, Sonny and Puddle.
Carlos Ballesteros, reporter
Carlos is a reporter at Injustice Watch covering police, politics and immigrant communities. Previously, he worked at the Chicago Sun-Times and Newsweek. Carlos was born in Chicago and lives in the city’s Lower West Side. He also lived in Mexico for a while. Carlos graduated from Claremont McKenna College in southern California with a Bachelor’s in history. Only time will tell if he ends up going back to school.
Read Carlos’ stories. Follow him on Twitter. Send him an email.
Charles Preston, audience engagement manager
Charles is the audience engagement manager at Injustice Watch. Before joining the organization in April 2019, Charles got his start in media as a reporting fellow at City Bureau, covering city council and mental health in Chicago. Charles’s writing has been featured in the Chicago Defender, Chicago Magazine, and In These Times. Charles was born in Redondo Beach, California, but has been living on the southside of Chicago since the age of four. He graduated from Chicago State University with a bachelor’s in African-American Studies after leading a student campaign to prevent the university from closure. He is a 2018 and 2020 ArtsMatter grantee for hosting #ChurchOnThe9, a street-based open mic for the Chatham community.
Read Charles’ stories. Follow him on Twitter. Send him an email.
Grace Asiegbu, reporter
Grace is a reporter at Injustice Watch covering housing issues through an intersectional lens, while examining current housing policies and programs and how they affect communities and people’s everyday lives. Grace was born in Chicago and raised by Nigerian parents, and she currently living in the Bronzeville neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side. She graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and has a master’s degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University. Before coming to Injustice Watch, she worked as a community engagement resident and breaking news reporter at the Chicago Sun-Times.
Read Grace’s stories. Follow her on Twitter. Send her an email.
Jonah Newman, editor
Jonah is an editor at Injustice Watch, where his job is to help reporters do their best work. He also helps manage our award-winning judicial election guides and collaborations, like The Circuit. Previously, he worked at Pacific Standard (RIP), the Chicago Reporter, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. Jonah is originally from Minnesota, the grandson of Holocaust survivors, and part of a lineage of writers and storytellers. He fell in love with Chicago — with all its flaws — as a student at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. He lives in Wicker Park with his wife, son, and their dog, who you’ve probably heard barking during a Zoom call.
Read Jonah’s stories. Follow him on Twitter. Send him an email.
Josh McGhee, reporter
Josh is a reporter at Injustice Watch covering courts, policing and public defense, with an emphasis on data. He has been covering Chicago on various beats for nearly a decade including at DNAinfo, WVON, and the Chicago Reporter. Josh grew up in Tinley Park, attended Providence Catholic High School, and Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Missouri. He lives on the South Side with his wife and son.
Read Josh’s stories. Follow him on Twitter. Send him an email.
Juliet Sorensen, executive director
Juliet is the executive director of Injustice Watch. Previously, she was the director of the Bluhm Legal Clinic at Northwestern University’s law school, where she remains on the faculty and is associated with its Center for International Human Rights. From 2003 to 2010, Juliet was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Chicago. Between college and law school, Juliet was a maternal and child health Peace Corps Volunteer in rural Morocco for two years. She graduated from Princeton University and Columbia Law School. Juliet and her husband moved to Chicago in 2003. They’ve since added three kids, two cats and a dog to their family. They all love the windy city.
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Maya Dukmasova, senior reporter
Maya is a senior reporter at Injustice Watch covering judges and the courts. Before joining the organization in 2021 she was a senior staff writer at the Chicago Reader, where she began working in 2016. Maya was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia and immigrated to the U.S. at the age of nine. She’s lived in Chicago since 2013. Her freelance writing has appeared in The Appeal, Places Journal, In These Times, Slate, and The Trace. Maya holds a master’s degree from the University of Cambridge and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Rochester.
Read Maya’s stories. Follow her on Twitter. Send her an email.
Rita Oceguera, reporter
Rita is a corps member with Report for America who covers immigration, policing, and class equity. At Injustice Watch she hopes to expand coverage to suburban communities and offer creative ways to engage and provide resources for folks impacted by our reporting. A Chicago suburbanite, Rita was raised in the East side of Aurora by Mexican parents and studied journalism and anthropology at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism. Before joining Injustice Watch, she was the bilingual community engagement reporter for The Chicago Reporter, where she worked to expand coverage of Latinos in the suburbs.
Read Rita’s stories. Follow her on Twitter. Send her an email.
Interns
Chloe Hilles is a senior at Northwestern University studying Journalism and Political Science. She is interning at Injustice Watch for fall 2021, as part of the Medill Journalism Residency program. Prior to Injustice Watch, Chloe interned at the Northwestern University Center on Wrongful Convictions, the Medill Investigative Lab, and the Mesulam Center for Cognitive Behavior and Alzheimer’s Disease. After graduating college, Chloe hopes to becoming an investigative reporter focusing on the criminal justice and prison systems.
Read Chloe’s stories. Follow her on Twitter. Send her an email.