Hi, I’m Julia Coccaro, the lead reporter at the Steamboat Pilot & Today, the local newspaper in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, where I cover government, housing, and education for Routt County. 

My reporting has focused on public accountability and community issues, including an investigation supported by the Foundation for Investigative Journalism into regulatory oversight at Alabama Power Company and its role in perpetuating energy poverty in my home state.

I graduated from Barnard College with a degree in sociology and earned a master of science in journalism from Columbia University, where I was one of fewer than 20 fellows in the Toni Stabile Investigative Program. 

I’ve also written for Barnard Bulletin, The Spectator, Columbia News Service, and MovieMaker.com, and co-edited Columbia’s neuroscience journal, Grey Matters.

Beyond the newsroom, I’ve copy-edited the Columbia-sponsored textbook Advances in Very-High-Energy Astrophysics, formatted and edited the 2025 Certified Master Chef Exam, and worked as outreach director for a congressional campaign in New York’s 12th District. 

In high school, I served as editor-in-chief of The Progressive Teen, the national publication of the High School Democrats of America, and filed a formal complaint against my county’s board of education over ideological bias in the public school curriculum, which led to a year-long investigation and changes to educational practices.

I believe deeply in informing the public through fair, comprehensive reporting that holds power to account.