Senior Editor & Co-Director

Ayushee Roy is a multimedia storyteller whose work spans across journalism, poetry and fiction. Trained at Columbia Journalism School, she brings a cross-disciplinary approach to her writing, drawing from an academic background in Communications (B.A., UCLA) as well as in Marketing Analytics and Insights (M.S., NUS Business School). Her work explores themes of identity, culture, social justice, and the textures of everyday life, shaped in part by her upbringing in the tropics and enduring fondness for the coast. Ayushee is also the author of the poetry collection Modern Oddity (New Degree Press, 2021), and co-author of Piece by Piece: Picking Up What’s Left Behind, a narrative nonfiction anthology published by Delacorte Review in 2025. Previously, she served as Editor-in-Chief of UCLA’s Pacific Ties newsmagazine and as Regional Editor at College Magazine.

Reach her at editor@civicstory.org, or connect on LinkedIn.

Videographer and Media Manager

Holly Lehren is a documentary filmmaker and media professional with a Master of Science in Journalism from Columbia University, specializing in documentary storytelling. Holly creates news videos, sponsor videos, graphics and social media for CivicStory.  Her documentary work explores cultural and social issues, with projects like Storytime, a documentary on the cultural war surrounding drag story hours, and Why You Have to Be Black and Gay, an award-winning exploration of identity under apartheid. She received an MA in Media Studies from the New School, and a BA in Political Science and Theatre from Muhlenberg College, PA.