Rachel Ishikawa | Michigan Radio
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Rachel Ishikawa

Podcast Producer
  • Katie Raymond / Michigan Radio

Rachel Ishikawa joined Michigan Radio in 2020 as a podcast producer. She produced Kids These Days, a limited-run series that launched in the Summer of 2020.

Prior to Michigan Radio, Rachel spent the past three years producing audio in Philadelphia. In addition to her work on the Peabody-nominated The Gospel Roots of Rock and Soul, she was the Social Practice Lab Artist-in-Residence at Asian Arts Initiative. There she collaborated with young people to develop an online audio sequencer that sampled sounds from the rapidly redeveloping Chinatown North Neighborhood. Her radio features range from topics of healthcare to skin stigmas to bioacoustics.

An avid biker, she’s always seeking the best route.

COVID "long haulers" ask, "What am I gaining to say that I'm still sick?"

By • Jan 5, 2021
Courtesy photos

More information is coming out about the potential long term symptoms of COVID-19. The CDC recently put out a list of the long term effects of the virus. And post-COVID treatment centers are growing in number.

It’s being called “Long COVID.” For people living with it, there are a lot of unknowns.

Eight months after getting COVID-19, one Kalamazoo woman is still battling the effects

By • Nov 30, 2020
A couple smiling at the camera. The woman has a feeding tube.
Courtesy of Becca Meyer.

Michigan now has more than 378,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Monday, Nov. 30. Many of those who are sick will come out of this okay. But some, like Rebecca Meyer, will suffer long term effects, what doctors call "long haul COVID."

Meyer lives in Kalamazoo. She was a healthy 31-year-old when she got COVID in March. It’s been eight months since then.

And she’s still sick.

In the midst of a second COVID-19 surge, one nurse asks, "Why are we doing this again?"

By • Nov 23, 2020
Nurse Kate Beauchamp wearing PPE.
Courtesy Kate Beauchamp

More than 3,800 people in Michigan are currently hospitalized with COVID-19. Deaths from the virus are rising as well. As cases continue to rise across the state, we’re talking with folks who have been personally impacted by the pandemic.

Among those hardest hit are health care professionals.

Voter Voices: "The undoing of racism isn’t going to be done overnight."

By • Oct 29, 2020
Khadijah Brown
Courtesy of Khadijah Brown

We’ve been talking to folks across the state to hear what’s on their minds this election season in our series Voter Voices.

For performing artist and activist Khadijah Brown, policing is very much on her mind as she heads to the polls.

Earlier this year she co-founded a group called Uplift Kalamazoo to help the Black community and address systemic racism in the city.

Voter Voices: "As far as policing, I just think there's a disconnect."

By • Oct 28, 2020
Dave Todd is a police officer in Southeast Michigan.
Jodi Westrick / Michigan Radio

People in Michigan have some big decisions to make on November 3. So with the election just around the corner, we’re talking to voters across the state to hear about what’s on their minds in our series, Voter Voices.

Dave Todd has worked as a police officer for over 20 years in Southeast Michigan. Like many people, he's thinking about the future of policing.


Voter Voices: "You're never going to have the perfect candidate. Never."

By • Oct 26, 2020
Leslie Emerson and Jason Lanham
Jodi Westrick / Michigan Radio

A lot has changed since the last presidential election. In our series Voter Voices, we're asking Michiganders how they are thinking about this year's election.

Leslie Emerson and her boyfriend Jason Lanham disagreed about who to vote for in 2016. She went for Hillary Clinton, he went for Donald Trump. This time around, they both agree on Joe Biden.

Voter Voices: "Money is important, but safety is even more important."

By • Oct 5, 2020
Sophie Yang
Jodi Westrick / Michigan Radio

Voter Voices: "The direction our country is headed in is ... a dangerous one."

By • Sep 25, 2020
Michael Lynn, Jr.
Emma Winowiecki / Michigan Radio

People in Michigan have some big decisions to make on November 3. So with the election just over a month away, we’re talking to voters across the state to hear what’s on their minds.