Mandalit del Barco () is an arts and culture reporter for NPR News (

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...

). A fourth generation journalist, she was born in

Lima, Peru Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...

to a Peruvian father and a

Mexican-American Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexica ...

mother. Her stories are featured on all NPR shows and platforms, including ''

All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...

'', ''

Morning Edition ''Morning Edition'' is an American radio news program produced and distributed by NPR. It airs weekday mornings (Monday through Friday) and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 5:00 to 9:00 AM ...

'', ''

Weekend Edition ''Weekend Edition'' is a set of American radio news magazine programs produced and distributed by National Public Radio (NPR). It is the weekend counterpart to the NPR radio program ''Morning Edition''. It consists of ''Weekend Edition Saturday'' ...

and

NPR.org National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from othe ...

.'' Del Barco has also been published in numerous anthologies. Based at NPR West in Culver City, California, del Barco reports and produces stories about cultural topics. Since 1998, she has reported for NPR from the red carpet and backstage at the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards. as well as the Golden Globes. She also regularly reports from the Sundance Film Festival. In the 1990s and 2000s, she chronicled street gangs in Los Angeles. She traveled to Tokyo to cover the sumer Olympics, to Puerto Rico to cover the effects of Hurricane Maria, to Haiti to report on the earthquake. In 2022, she reported, narrated and produced a five part series on "Latinos in Hollywood."

Biography

Del Barco was raised in Baldwin, Kansas and Oakland, California. She spent the year of 1999–2000 living and working in her native Peru as a

Fulbright Fellow The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

and on a fellowship with the Knight International Centre for Journalists. While there, she worked on a documentary project about Peruvian culture and politics, as well stories of those internally displaced during Peru's internal conflicts. After studying Anthropology and Rhetoric at U.C. Berkeley and writing for The Daily Californian, she earned her Masters in journalism at Columbia University, where she wrote her masters thesis entitled "Breakdancers; Who Are They and Why are They Spinning On Their Heads?” She continued her career as a journalist for ''

The Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a city in western Miami-Dade County and the Miami metropolitan area, several miles west of Downtown Miami.The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

''. She first began working in radio while in New York. She moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

in 1993 from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, where she was a reporter for

WNYC WNYC is the trademark and a set of call letters shared by WNYC (AM) and WNYC-FM, a pair of nonprofit, noncommercial, public radio stations located in New York City. WNYC is owned by New York Public Radio (NYPR), a nonprofit organization that di ...

.NPR Biography
(accessed 2 December 2015) She has lived in Los Angeles since 1993, and is a longtime correspondent for NPR News. Del Barco has had tremendous influence on many up-and-coming journalists."From Haiti to Hollywood, NPR reporter covers the world"
at Utah State University'
Hard News Café
website (accessed 2 December 2015) She has been a student mentor on the

National Association of Hispanic Journalists The National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) is a Washington, D.C.-based organization dedicated to the advancement of Hispanic and Latino journalists in the United States and Puerto Rico. It was established in 1984. NAHJ has approxima ...

(NAHJ) and Unity student projects as well as mentoring young journalists outside this venue. At its 2015 annual conference, the

National Council of La Raza UnidosUS, formerly National Council of La Raza (NCLR) (La Raza), is the United States's largest Latino nonprofit advocacy organization. It advocates in favor of progressive public policy changes including immigration reform, a path to citizens ...

(NCLR) presented Del Barco with the Ruben Salazar Award for Communications,2015 Conference Awards - Kansas City"
a
NCLR
website (accessed 2 December 2015). citing among her achievements, her "empowering young female journalists". In 2012, she was chosen by the public as having the "Best Name In Public Radio" according to a poll conducted by NPR."The Best Name In Public Radio: Mandalit Del Barco"
on NPR website (accessed 2 December 2015).

References

External links

NPR biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Del Barco, Mandalit Living people NPR personalities Peruvian emigrants to the United States American people of Mexican descent Year of birth missing (living people)