Michelle Zacarias (she/her) is a queer Latina award-winning journalist, storyteller, and two-time cancer survivor. Born and raised in Chicago, Michelle currently resides in Southern California. As a CALÓ News reporter and UC Berkeley Local News Fellow, she covers health care, politics, equity and topics pertaining to state-sanctioned violence. Michelle writes the candid column Sin Pena, where she shares her journey navigating colorectal cancer and confronting health care inequities. Her work has appeared in Windy City Times, Teen Vogue, City Bureau, The Triibe, and more. In 2018, she won the Saul Miller Excellence in Journalism Award and was a 2024 finalist for the LA Press Club’s SoCal Journalism Award in Political Commentary.