Aarti Shahani

Aarti Shahani is an award-winning NPR journalist and best-selling author. She is the creator and host of "Art of Power" (a co-production with WBEZ), a weekly podcast featuring fascinating people who’ve done big things.

Shahani spent her 20s organizing prisoners. When she pivoted to business journalism, she enjoyed a meteoric rise at NPR as a Silicon Valley correspondent. She’s guest-hosted NPR’s "All Things Considered" and KQED’s "Forum."

Shahani’s first book, "Here We Are," chronicles her unlikely journey from an undocumented kid in Queens, New York, to the national voice on the frontlines of the most powerful industry on earth. An Amazon bestseller, the memoir has garnered critical acclaim.

Shahani’s reporting has received awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, an Edward R. Murrow Award, and an Investigative Reporters & Editors Award. Her first newsroom was ProPublica.

She received her masters degree from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, with a full scholarship from the university and additional support from the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans. She completed her bachelor’s degree in anthropology at the University of Chicago. She was among the youngest recipients of the Charles H. Revson Fellowship at Columbia University and is an alumna of A Better Chance, Inc.

Shahani lives in Oakland, California with her nephew. She loves storytelling and justice.