Zoë Sobel

About Zoë

As a high schooler in Portland, Maine, Zoë Sobel got her first taste of public radio at NPR’s easternmost station. From there, she’s slowly moved west – onto Boston where she studied psychology at Wellesley College and worked at WBUR, then to KUCB in Unalaska, Alaska. While at WBUR, Zoë produced the station’s national award-winning coverage of the trial of convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and covered sports for NPR’s nationally syndicated sports show, Only A Game. After moving to Unalaska in 2016, Zoë covered a region that extends more than 1,000 miles, telling stories about the history of the trans-Alaska pipeline, a rogue rat, and the destruction of 80 tons of contested salmon. A trip to Attu Island launched Zoë into film and led to the 2019 premiere of KUCB’s documentary Tanadgusim Adan Chiilulix: A Journey Home, which examines four Alaska Native villages lost during the World War II Aleutian campaign and efforts by descendants and former residents to stay connected to their heritage. Zoë split her Luce year between Kathmandu, Nepal and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Zoë recently wrapped up an investigative reporting project with ProPublica into commercial aviation safety in the 49th state.