Norberto Santana, Jr.,
Publisher and Editor-in-Chief
Norberto Santana, Jr. founded the Voice of OC as the county’s first nonprofit newsroom in 2009. As the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the Voice of OC, Santana, an award-winning columnist and investigative reporter, is a pioneer in the field of nonprofit journalism.
Santana is most proud of the newsroom’s ability to respond to community emergencies, like the rollout of federal forces and ICE raids across Orange County, the COVID pandemic, the oil spills and wildfires in years prior.
[Read: Orange County Braces For ICE]
[Read: Are Orange County’s Streets About to Get Militarized?]
[Read: Santana: What Happens to Orange County’s Disappeared?]
In addition, he is a strong advocate of the newsroom’s role as a taxpayer watchdog – pointing to stadium coverage that helped thwart two different rushed deals to sell off public land to special interests in addition to ongoing accountability coverage on issues like homelessness response, public power and COVID contracting.
Read columns and stories by Norberto here.
Spencer Custodio,
Civic Editor
Spencer Custodio is the newsroom’s Civic Editor. An Orange County native, Custodio initially covered the cities of Fullerton and Irvine after starting as one of the newsroom’s first interns in 2010.
His focus turned to Anaheim City Hall in late 2018. Throughout the following year, he detailed the shadowy Angel Stadium land sale proposal – a sale that was ultimately canned after it got caught up in a federal corruption probe.
[Read: Anaheim City Council Cans Angel Stadium Deal After FBI Corruption Probe Into City Hall]
[Read: Ex-Anaheim Mayor Sidhu Agrees to Plead Guilty to Corruption Charges]
Custodio began as one of the newsroom’s first reporting interns back in 2010 following his graduation from Cal State Fullerton, where he studied Constitutional law, public policy, economics and international law.
Julie Leopo,
Photography Director
Julie Leopo is the Director of Photography for the Voice of OC. An award-winning photojournalist, Leopo has freelanced for OC Weekly, KCET, LA Times, CalMatters, LAist, Ed Source, Vice and NPR and others.
She primarily covers social issues, arts and culture, along with local politics at the Voice of OC. Leopo considers her stories on Santa Ana’s murals and the rollout of ICE raids in the city to be her most impactful.
[Read: Santa Ana Move to Erase Chicano Gothic Mural Triggers Debate]
[Read: Santa Ana Officials Say the City’s Iconic ‘Chicano Gothic’ Mural Stays; Now What]
In addition to her role at the Voice of OC, Leopo mentors and instructs student photojournalists as adjunct faculty professor at Chapman University. Leopo sits on the board of the Press Photographers Association of Greater Los Angeles
[Read: Photojournalism Students Receiving Hands-On Experience”]
Hosam Elattar,
Reporter
Hosam Elattar is an Egyptian-American reporter with Voice of OC covering Anaheim and North Orange County, housing and homelessness, food insecurity, education, religion, and the Arab & Muslim American community.
He considers his most impactful reporting to be his coverage of Little Arabia, investigations connected to the Anaheim corruption scandal, and recent coverage of immigration and food insecurity in the county.
[Read: Orange County’s Largest Cities Take a Stand Against ICE Sweeps]
[Read: https://voiceofoc.org/2025/11/food-stamp-changes-orange-county/]
He graduated from Cal State Fullerton, where he was an editor at the university’s student-run paper, the Daily Titan.
Elattar teaches as an adjunct professor at Chapman University. He is trilingual (English, Arabic, Spanish) and has lived internationally in Botswana, Nepal, Uganda, the Dominican Republic and India.
Noah Biesiada,
Reporter
Noah Biesiada covers the county government, public safety, department of education, Huntington Beach and disaster news.
He considers his most impactful work to be his reporting on All American Asphalt and the OC Power Authority.
[Read: It’s Not Just The Airport Fire: County Legal Payouts Total $258 Million Over Four Years]
[Read: OC Supervisors Remove District Attorney’s HR Department After $3 Million Loss]
He has been an Orange County resident since the age of 9 after moving to the City of La Habra. Biesiada attended California State University, Fullerton, studying communications with an emphasis in journalism. During his time at Cal State, he worked at the Daily Titan, growing into a role as a news editor.
Biesiada currently works as an adjunct faculty professor at Chapman University, instructing students on public affairs reporting within the newsroom’s Collegiate Newsroom Service.
Angelina Hicks,
Collegiate News Service Editor
Angelina Hicks is the Collegiate News Service editor at the Voice of OC. She was hired as the inaugural Tracy Wood Fellow in 2022 but has been filing stories and mentoring students with the newsroom since 2020 during her freshman year at Chapman University.
At Voice, Hicks reports on south county news and civics, including issues along the coastline. She also covers the county-run animal shelter in Tustin and topics regarding the OC Fair & Event Center, including the fairgrounds and equestrian center.
[Read: Concerns Mount About Horses Held Hostage at OC Fairgrounds]
[Read: Orange County Animal Shelter Reopens Kennels For Five Hours Each Week]
[Read: Who’s Financing Orange County’s Politicians?]
Her “Pets of the Week” series that publishes each Friday highlights dogs and cats available at local animal shelters, including OC Animal Care.
Hicks, who graduated from Chapman in 2023, works as an assistant professor of journalism and the interim director for the journalism program within Wilkinson College. There, she served as Editor-in-Chief of The Panther, the university’s student-run newspaper.
She gained a Master’s of Science in journalism from the University Southern California in 2024, where she also worked as managing editor for Annenberg Media.