Lorin Eleni Avendaño

Eleni is a multimedia reporter who was born and raised in Honolulu. As a business reporter at Pacific Business News, she covered health care, nonprofits and tourism, writing about the Affordable Care Act, alternative lodging and the controversy over the Thirty Meter Telescope in Hawaii. She has won numerous awards for excellence in journalism from the Society of Professional Journalists Hawaii Chapter. Eleni studied international relations and communications at American University and will complete her master's degree in journalism from UC Berkeley in May 2019.

Honolulu Civil Beat

Honolulu Civil Beat is a digital news site focused on in-depth enterprise and investigative reporting that can have meaningful impact and drive positive change in Hawaii. Civil Beat was started with the aim of filling a void for serious civic affairs reporting in a shrinking media landscape. Civil Beat’s 18-person newsroom strives to cover important stories in Hawaii that no one else is telling. Major areas of coverage include police accountability and corruption, the environment and climate change, the city’s struggling rail project, public schools, state government, social issues and Native Hawaiian affairs.