Berkeleyside expands newsroom with two new hires

Berkeleyside has hired two new journalists, one for the newly launching independent Oakland news site and one for Berkeleyside.

Azucena Rasilla will be joining the Oakland newsroom as arts and community reporter. Her new role begins June 1.

Prior to her appointment, Rasilla has worked freelance for some time. She was also a contributing writer for KRON-TV and served as a web/social media writer at East bay Express. Additionally, she has also worked at BeFunky Inc. and Union Rocker.

For Berkeleyside, the team has hired Supriya Yelimeli as a general assignment reporter.

Previously, Yelimeli was a beaking news reporter for Bay City News Inc. and worked freelance for Mission Local Inc. She also held the post of editor-in-chief at Daily Nexus.

Additionally, she has also interned at NBC News, Pacific Coast Business Times and Santa Barbara Independent. She was also web editor at The Smoke Signal.

Yelimeli holds a bachelor’s degree in communication from University of California.

Lastly, Natalie Orenstein, who has worked as a staff reporter for Berkeleyside for three years will be joining the Oakland newsroom as its housing and homelessness reporter.

Her new role begins June 4.

Previously, she was a staff writer at HiredPen Inc. and has also worked as a public information and web specialist at Metropolitan Transport Commission. In addition, she has also served as an intern at numerous places, including San Francisco chronicle, Newsdesk.org, San Francisco Bay Guardian and Berkeleyside.

“I am so thankful that the wonderful Berkeley community has trusted me to tell its stories all these years, and I’m glad to not be going too far,” said Orenstein.