Kadin Mills
ICT
WASHINGTON — Leah Mesquita didn’t see herself as a sports reporter when she started her internship with ICT back in May. “I have little to no interest in sports journalism,” she said. So when she stepped into the Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix to cover a WNBA game, Mesquita was overwhelmed and a little out of her element. But by the time the basketball players were warmed up, she had already found her groove.
“It was really cool because I had never gotten to interview a professional player before,” she said. It was a fun and engaging experience. “I was on the grind, I had to hunt people down — fans — to go talk to.”
She says the experience taught her so much, including how to write a story on a “day-turn,” or in just one day. “It was a lot but I just felt proud of myself, getting it done. I think that was my favorite story that I’ve done [with ICT],” she said.
Mesquita, 20, is a rising junior at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University, and she is a 2024 summer intern at ICT. She previously worked for Cronkite News in downtown Phoenix, where she lives with her girlfriend who is also studying journalism at Arizona State. Mesquita wants to be a digital reporter.
When she’s not working or focused on her studies, Mesquita loves to hunt second hand clothes in thrift stores with her girlfriend. She also enjoys going to concerts and trying out all of the restaurants downtown. “Literally every restaurant on Roosevelt Row, if you ever come here, it’s probably going to be good.”
Mesquita found ICT through a program at her school that matches students with local media organizations.
“You kinda got to pick which companies you wanted to interview with and I read ICT’s little description,” she said. “I was really interested in covering Indigenous communities.”
While working at Cronkite News, she wrote on the health beat, which primarily focused on disparities. She says it is a very difficult beat, and she struggled to find people who were willing to be vulnerable with a reporter. At the same time, she realized Indigenous peoples are underrepresented in the media and face enormous inequality.
ICT appealed to Mesquita because it is headquartered nearby, as well as for its commitment to publishing stories that uplift Indigenous peoples, by Indigenous peoples. ICT was her top choice.
During her time here, she has written about a myriad of topics. She’s interviewed an award winning Cherokee author, a Diné fashion designer and skateboarder, as well as the duo behind the Lakota dub of The Avengers.
“Those are things I’ve never gotten to do before,” she said.
Mesquita says her internship with ICT has made her a more well-rounded journalist. “I was definitely given opportunities that I don’t think I could have gotten if I had decided to go a different direction,” she said.
Mesquita’s last day with ICT is Aug. 9.
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