Meet Marisa Helms

Helms is a metro-area reporter for Minnesota Public Radio. Her beat focuses on St. Paul and nearby suburbs. Helms' work includes election and campaign reporting, city hall, human-interest stories, and the cultural and economic challenges facing St. Paul's neighborhoods. Helms joined Minnesota Public Radio in 1999 from WDET-FM in Detroit where she covered health care issues in Detroit's underserved and minority communities. In 1998, Helms was an observer during a 10-day humanitarian aid mission to Iraq. Her radio series about the trip won a 1998 Associated Press award for news documentary. Helms got started in public radio at KQED in San Francisco, reporting for KQED's statewide magazine, "The California Report." She has a bachelor's degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a master's degree from San Francisco State University. Helms is past president of the Minnesota chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. As a board member and former chapter leader, Helms helps provide professional development for local journalists and advocates for protecting First Amendment rights. Helms was also a Fellow of the RIAS-RTNDF journalism program, where she spent three weeks in Europe studying the European Union and Germany's economic and political systems.