Melodie Edwards has covered a wide variety of Western topics, from wildlife to Native American issues to agriculture to rural health. She is the recipient of two national PMJA awards, one for her investigation of the reservation housing crisis, another for a civil discourse over a confrontation at a Gillette, Wyoming mosque. She’s also won numerous regional Edward R. Murrow Awards, two for “best use of sound.” Her work has also won two Native American Journalism awards.

Melodie grew up in Walden, Colorado where her father worked in the oilfield and timber industries and her mother was the editor of the Jackson County Star. She graduated with an MFA from the University of Michigan on a Colby Fellowship and received two Hopwood Awards there for fiction and nonfiction. She is the recipient of the 2019 Pattie Layser Greater Yellowstone Fellowship, the Doubleday Wyoming Arts Council Award for Women and is the author of the young adult novel, Akorena & the League of Crows and Hikes Around Fort Collins.

Melodie and her husband own Night Heron Books and Coffeehouse in Laramie, Wyoming.

Erin Jones is The Modern West’s story editor, helping shape the narratives you hear on the podcast. She is also the host and senior producer of another award-winning podcast, HumaNature. Erin began her audio career as an intern in the Wyoming Public Radio newsroom, and her work has been featured on WHYY Philadelphia’s The Pulse and the podcast Out There. 

Erin earned her Bachelor of Arts from The University of Texas at Austin in geography, and her Master of Fine Arts from the University of Wyoming in creative writing and environment and natural resources. Her writing has won the Frank Nelson Doubleday Award, a Kimmel Harding Nelson residency, and publications in The Normal School and Western Confluence. 

Erin grew up in Texas, Utah, and Georgia, but she’s mostly Texan. Her partner in crime is her Hurricane Harvey rescue lab mix, Frankie.

Anna Rader is the digital producer for multiple podcasts at Wyoming Public Media, including the station’s award-winning flagship podcast HumaNature. She helps shape what you see on this website, along with social media outreach and branding. She is also involved with production, hosting, and programming in various areas at the station.

Anna is a born and bred Wyomingite and graduated from the University of Wyoming, where she majored in Journalism. Her passion for public radio—and her career in it—began during a college internship at Wyoming Public Media.

When she’s not geeking out over sci-fi/sci-fantasy pop culture (or playing DnD) she enjoys being a cinephile, hiking, and going to concerts.

Micah Schweizer oversees podcast productions at Wyoming Public Media. He started his career at Wisconsin Public Radio, and before moving to Wyoming, Micah worked as an award-winning reporter, producer, and host in Indiana.

Micah has contributed to networks including NPR, SiriusXM, and ABC Australia, and his work at Wyoming Public Media has garnered wide recognition, including multiple Best Podcast awards from the Public Media Journalists Association. Micah received his B.A. in French and German from Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.