Sam Dier

Former Luminary Fellow
Sam Dier is a Luminary Podcast Fellow working on Nerdette, a WBEZ podcast. Prior to WBEZ, Sam was a graduate journalism student at Northwestern University, Medill. She served as a chair member for the Graduate Student Academic Council at the Northwestern Prison Education Program, which provides a high-level liberal arts education to incarcerated students in Illinois. Additionally, Sam received the Pulitzer Graduate Reporting grant for her investigative piece, A Shadow Population in a Post-Roe America, which explores the landscape of abortion access for incarcerated individuals in Illinois and surrounding states

Originally from Los Angeles, Sam and her 70-lb. dog, Bailey, have fallen in love with the city of Chicago and all that it has to offer — even the not-so-brutal winters. During the early months of the pandemic, Sam took a 3-month road trip with Bailey cross country and with nothing to do but drive, podcasts quickly became the vital elixir to cure her boredom. She has made a career out of her passion and cannot wait to see what’s next!

Stories by Sam Dier