Heidi Shin

Podcast + Public Radio Producer

Writer / Journalist

Bylines in: The New York Times, Washington Post, National Geographic, WBUR, WGBH, BBC, PRX Snap Judgment, Atlas Obscura, PRI's The World, and more

Heidi Shin

Podcast + Public Radio Producer

Writer / Journalist

Bylines in: The New York Times, Washington Post, National Geographic, WBUR, WGBH, BBC, PRX Snap Judgment, Atlas Obscura, PRI's The World, and more

Embracing our Immigrant Identities to Counter Racism
My daughter was the only kid who didn’t have a separate Korean name when we signed her up for Korean classes three years ago. The blank space on the registration form looked at me, as if to say we’d forgotten something as parents. When she was born in the United States in 2012, my spouse and I, who are both Asian-American, never thought to give her a name like Seohyun or Haeun.
The New York Times
Deep Dive: Haenyeo
A story that explores working motherhood, elderly divers, and the relationship with my own aging mom.
Snap Judgment
Chinatown preschool helps families name pandemic-related feelings
In a preschool classroom in Boston’s Chinatown, kids at pint-sized, wooden tables solve puzzles and play with Legos while others crowd in front of a full-sized mirror, waving their fists in the air, pretending to be angry. “How is this friend feeling?” pr
The World from PRX
Modern Love: Old Roots Bearing Fruit
On a brisk November morning, I found myself climbing a fruit tree in my mother’s backyard in suburban Virginia. My 3-year-old insisted that I pick the last persimmon at 6:30 a.m. My father planted that tree two decades ago because the persimmons reminded him of the home he left behind in Korea. Now each year, come Thanksgiving, the tree bears vibrant orange fruit on the grayest of almost-winter mornings, and I am reminded of him.
The New York Times
Oakland’s Chinatown searches for solutions to hate crimes
Seeing a surge in attacks against Asian Americans during the pandemic, community ambassadors are finding ways to help elders in Chinatown feel safe.
PRX/WGBH The World
Why I changed my mind about raising my child to be bilingual
There were two things I despised growing up as a kid in New York: piano lessons — the kind that required Czernys (and recitals with frilly dresses). So when my daughter...
Washington Post
Postcards From a World on Fire
Cities swallowed by dust, human history drowned by the sea. These 193 stories show the reality of climate change. In every country in the world.
The New York Times
The Great Stalacpipe Organ
A studious engineer who abandons the practical to pursue an unwieldy dream in mid-life.
Atlas Obscura
He Started A Movement To #StopAAPIHate
Russell Jeung says: "Even now we’re learning that with trauma people have different responses, there’s depression and anxiety, but responding gives you a sense of control rather than a sense of hopelessness."
NPR/KALW
Hospital Chaplain Finds Joyful Sorrow For COVID Patients
A hospital chaplain cares for COVID patients when their families can't visit because she believes no one should die alone.
NPR/KALW
The Pennsylvania Firefly Festival
How a Firefly Festival in rural Pennsylvania changed the lives of bed and breakfast owners.
Atlas Obscura
Dancing hope for a Cambodian American genocide survivor
When the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia in 1975, the regime carried out a genocide that killed over 1.5 million people and specifically targeted nearly all of the country’s artists and musicians. Very few survived. After the genocide, thousands of Cambodian Americans were resettled in the US as refugees in the city of Lowell, Massachusetts.
PRX/WGBH The World
Why young North Koreans are daring to wear skinny jeans
Danbi, a black market smuggler, shares about her quest to wear skinny jeans, which were illegal in North Korea. From cell phones to movies, she shares what it was like to be a North Korean teen.
PRX/WGBH The World
The California Sunday Magazine "At Home"
Temporary or permanent, the result of years of looking or a last resort, the place we call home can be a repository for memories, a family we create, an escape hatch. We sent photographers throughout the western United States to ask people where they feel most at home. In the mountains of Utah, we found a mother of four who designed her dream mansion with some help from Pinterest; an hour north, we accompanied a young engineer as she sought the solitude of a trail beneath the night sky....
California Sunday Magazine
Diving with the last generation of Korea’s Mermaids
Elderly women in their 60s, 70s, and 80s free-dive off the coast of South Korea, and discover that retiring...
PRI/Public Radio International
A Refugee returns home where he's the 1%
Jefferson, a young black man who came to the US as a refugee, returns home to Liberia, where he finds himself in the 1%.
PRI/Public Radio International

Heidi Shin is a writer + audio producer who is especially interested in the stories of immigrant communities and the inevitable connections between stories from abroad and our lives here in the US. Amongst many adventures, she’s been diving with elderly mermaids on Jeju Island, trailed a group of Catholic nuns that reunites families separated at the US Mexico border, and interviewed a North Korean film director with his leading lady. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, National Geographic, California Sunday Magazine, Snap Judgment, Atlas Obscura, 70 Million, the BBC, and PRX The World. She also co-created and produced WGBH/The Ground Truth Project's "The New American Songbook," a podcast about immigrant musicians whose awards include an ONA, a Webby, and an Edward R. Murrow Award. Other recent awards include The New Yorker Festivals Radio Award. Live storytelling experience includes The Moth, PRX LA Live, and Club Passim. Heidi also teaches at the PRX Podcast Garage and Harvard University’s Sound Lab and organizes the Sonic Soiree. She is often invited to speak about reporting in immigrant communities, reporting about mental health, women’s issues, and bringing new voices to podcasting.

What others have said:

"This audio gem goes behind the reporting scenes in a way that’s deep, relatable, distinct, and filled with both unexpected tenderness and tenacity. Heidi showcases her stellar storytelling chops and gives us all a gift with this meticulously generous documented ear-tale." - PRX

"Thank you for that well-told two-parter on the developmental challenges for kids in Boston's Chinatown. It was a key story to tell within pandemic coverage, made more acute by immigration and anti-Asian aggression, with you allowing us to be part of many intimate and powerful scenes." -- The World

"Too many children of immigrants are confronting questions of language, culture and what we pass on to the next generation. This is one of the most honest and moving explorations I've seen by @byheidishin" -- The New York Times

Heidi Shin

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Heidi Shin