Elisa Baena
Elisa Baena is a former associate producer for Sundial. Long before starting her career at WLRN and the weekly public radio show Latino USA, Elisa’s abuela prophesized that she would become a writer because of her over-the-top storytelling style as a child.
As a WLRN intern, she co-hosted an episode of The Sunshine Economy with Tom Hudson and her first radio feature aired nationally on All Things Considered. At Latino USA, she produced episodes about chisme, the inimitable Afro-Cuban singer La Lupe and her community’s response to the Surfside condo collapse one year later.
Elisa has a bachelor’s in English from the University of Miami. She was a writer and section editor for the student magazine Distraction, while her fiction and literary criticism earned undergraduate prizes at UM. But best of all, she got to see Shakira and Bad Bunny up close when her college dance team participated in the 2020 Super Bowl Halftime Show at the Hard Rock Stadium.
A Miami native and Cuban American, Elisa began listening to WLRN at 16 when she started driving a hand-me-down Mini Cooper to school. She is proud to work at the station that shaped her view of journalism and hopes to keep producing stories that honor her community and culture.
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SundialSigne and Genna Grushovenko are the artists behind this year’s poster for the Coconut Grove Arts Festival. The couple explain how they came to unite their love — and their artwork. -
The Grammy-winning bandleader of Snarky Puppy brings an eclectic mix of genres to Miami Beach for the GroundUP Music festival, which he co-founded. He shares his musical influences and the struggles of bringing a pair of legendary Cuban bands to perform. -
SundialThe Black Lives Matter movement pushed Chire Regans' art in the direction of social awareness. From portraits of gun violence victims to sculptures exploring hair braiding practices, the new Oolite Arts resident hopes to spark change through her pieces. -
SundialGrammy-winning bandleader of Snarky Puppy tells us how breaking into Dallas' gospel scene and making his own band influenced his music. Now he's bringing all of those influences to the Miami Beach's GroundUP Music Festival which he co-founded.
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SundialAuri Kananen has become famous for going around the globe and cleaning some of the messiest homes. Her book is titled “Happiness Cleaning: How to Embrace the Mess and Love the Cleanup.” -
SundialNathan Sawaya is a contemporary artist who uses LEGO bricks exclusively for his art. His global exhibition The Art of the Brick comes to Miami at the Olympia Theater. -
In the new documentary, Razing Liberty Square, director and producer Katja Esson, explores how climate gentrification is affecting residents living on the highest and driest ground in Miami. -
SundialGuy Michel is a Palm Beach County-based improvisational cellist and entertainer whose performances across South Florida challenge the status quo. -
SundialIn the new documentary, Razing Liberty Square, director and producer Katja Esson, explores how climate gentrification is affecting residents living on the highest-and-driest ground in Miami. -
SundialNora Maité Nieves is currently an artist in residence at The Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach. In her exhibit “Clouds in the Expanded Field,” connects her Caribbean roots to the skies above whatever city she might find herself in. -
SundialCarlos Frías is joined by Willie Stewart, a music educator and the former principal drummer and percussionist for the band Third World. -
It’s hard to overstate the effect Negro League baseball had on South Florida and America. The makers of the new WLRN-TV documentary Never Drop the Ball tell us how the league and its players changed the sport, and the country, forever.
