As a CatchLight Local and Report for America fellow at Berkeleyside, Ximena Natera brought sharp narrative instincts and visual depth to stories rooted in Berkeley, California. Now, as her three-year fellowship comes to an end, we celebrate the impact of her storytelling and the lasting contributions she’s made to local journalism.
“This fellowship has been such an incredible gift,” she said. “Being able to work in a newsroom, directly with editors and writers, allowed me to grow in ways I couldn’t as a freelancer.”
She says her most impactful work came from stories that didn’t begin with headlines, but with close observation and curiosity. One of those became a major project documenting the quiet displacement of immigrant workers living at Golden Gate Fields racetrack.
“Overnight, the city lost up to 500 Latino immigrant workers — and it happened in silence, just like the way they had been living in Berkeley for decades,” Natera said. “For me, the story was about photographing a space and showing how different communities have shaped it, been displaced from it, and then had to find home again.”
At Berkeleyside, each assignment was approached with intention, rooted in a commitment to helping neighbors better understand their city and one another. That mindset turned a colleague’s curiosity about the Indian and Mortar Rocks — a popular rock climbing spot — into a powerful story about the Ohlone people and their fight for rights and heritage.
“That story took us down a rabbit hole — into understanding how the creation of Berkeley erased the presence of Indigenous communities. We were able to understand that this one space had captured people’s imagination for over 1,000 years. It was magical to photograph something like that,” Natera said.
Working in a supportive newsroom gave Natera the freedom to take creative risks, advocate for images, and experiment with different tools and formats. She reimagined local journalism by finding the most meaningful stories in quiet, everyday moments.
Natera continues to work in visual journalism and is open to freelance opportunities.