izzie ramirez
@izzieramirez.bsky.social
freelance reporter, editor, designer // formerly deputy editor @ vox’s future perfect // i write about consumerism, food, sports, pop culture, science, AI, and design // whatever!!! // reach me: izziermrz@gmail.com
Wrote about the legal personhood debate for AI and self-preservation for Popular Mechanics. (Computational functionalism nerds, rise up!!!) www.popularmechanics.com/science/a711...
If AI Becomes Conscious, We Have to Grant It Rights, Some Experts Argue—Or Should We Pull the Plug?
“If we grant AI personhood, it's game over for humanity.” —Max Tegmark, co-founder of the Future of Life Institute
popularmechanics.com
last week I started a substack chronicling my journey as a soon-to-be founder. this week’s newsletter is all about rejection (freelancers are v familiar w the feeling!!!) izzie.substack.com/p/training-t...
Training 'til failure
This week in building a media company: flopping and getting back up again
izzie.substack.com
I’m on the radiooooooooo to chat the history of the phone with @kqedforum.bsky.social 🥹 tune in now! www.kqed.org/forum
Listen to Forum
KQED's live call-in radio program presents balanced discussions of local, state, national, and world issues as well as in-depth interviews with leading figures in politics, science, entertainment, and...
kqed.org
🎙️ON AIR: We're talking to @izzieramirez.bsky.social, @heatherkelly.bsky.social and @emilydreyfuss.bsky.social about the many iterations of the telephone, which turns 150 years old this month. ❓What’s a feature of a previous iteration of phone tech you miss/love? 📻 Listen:
Dialing Up 150 Years on the Phone | KQED
We’ll discuss what looking back on how we used the phone can teach us about restoring connection and meaning in our lives.
buff.ly
🫵🏽Are you a #chef, #waiter, #caterer, #eventplanner? Have you ever had to serve an insanely wealthy private party? I want to talk to you!🫵🏽 For Serviette Magazine, I'm writing about the folks who make decadent nights possible. Happy to grant anonymity! Hit me up: izziermrz@gmail.com #restaurants
letter of rec: quit your job, go freelance, and throw a party
THIS JUST IN: I'm the first ever Vox employee to hit the aegyo during an exit interview. Today is my last day as deputy editor of Future Perfect! I've had a blast working with this truly iconic team, but it's time for me to do my own thing!
y'all think i can use a burst water pipe as an excuse not to cook and to get ceviche instead yes or yes
Read Vox's chief Bad Bunny correspondent @izzieramirez.bsky.social on the references to Puerto Rican culture, history, and politics you might have missed during Benito's set last night. www.vox.com/culture/4784...
Bad Bunny’s knockout halftime show, explained by a Puerto Rican
All of the cultural Easter eggs you might have missed.
vox.com
it's me!!! explaining benito bowl!!!
Vox@vox.com · 6mo agoDid you catch these nods to Puerto Rican culture and history during Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show? 👀🇵🇷 Vox’s deputy editor and Benito aficionado Izzie Ramirez breaks down some of the most important moments. You can read the full analysis: www.vox.com/culture/4784...
Here's a gift link to the @vox.com piece I wrote explaining eight of the biggest, cultural, "if you know, you know" moments of Bad Bunny's halftime show www.vox.com/culture/4784...
Bad Bunny’s knockout halftime show, explained by a Puerto Rican
All of the cultural Easter eggs you might have missed.
vox.com
Team resources is why worker-owned media collectives are so important. It's not gonna fix everything, especially the problem of readers only having so much cash, but everyone can't go it alone.
Karen K. Ho@karenho.bsky.social · 6mo agoA lot of people cannot just start a paid newsletter or become freelancers to sustain their careers. The sports, metro, and international desks did work that requires *team* resources, like legal checks, documents, access to archives, and long-term beat experience.
democracy dies when you are actively trying to kill it!!
my brand at work is so strong that i got a “congrats to izzie” at the 9:30 am stand up
SCOOP: 404 Media is publishing a version of the user guide for ELITE, a tool Palantir made for ICE which brings up dossiers on individual people and provides a “confidence score” of their address. The full user guide here:
Here is the User Guide for ELITE, the Tool Palantir Made for ICE
404 Media is publishing a version of the user guide for ELITE, which lets ICE bring up dossiers on individual people and provides a “confidence score” of their address.
404media.co
everything always works out in my favor!!! ik — a highly delusional thing to believe, but it's true!
i'm the world's luckiest girl (saw kokuho in tokyo a month ago and then again tonight in imax in nyc)
clear eyes, miso soup in a to go coffee cup, can’t lose
in any case this is what you missed on glee last weekend! cambodian coconut milk rice cake, nails by my amazing nail tech of 4 yrs, and...me at kelang 🌺
Some early takes said the new food guidelines weren't too bad, but you always gotta dig deeper to really understand what MAHA is doing. So much going on here is chaos but most notably the new guidance makes an aggressive turn toward centering animal-based foods www.vox.com/future-perfe...
The new food pyramid is lying to you
It’s also a contradictory mess.
vox.com
cold brew x cafe de olla combo so strong not only did i clean my house, i logged onto bluesky
🎙️ON AIR: We're talking to @vox.com's @izzieramirez.bsky.social, @washingtonpost.com's @michellesingletary.bsky.social and @nytimes.com's Emma Goldberg about their predictions for 2026 and what we learned from 2025. ❓Whether good, bad or neutral, what do you think will happen this year? 📻 Listen:
What Are Your 2026 Predictions? | KQED
We’ll speak with three journalists about what they expect — and what we’ve learned from 2025. And we’ll hear from you: Whether it’s good, bad or neutral, what do you think will happen this year?
kqed.org
@klingebeil.bsky.social: “Journalism risks becoming endlessly malleable, shaped to fit yet another set of companies’ platforms, metrics, and algorithms rather than public needs.” www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/jour...
Today, @izzieramirez.bsky.social and @vox.com's Future Perfect team launched our annual list of extraordinary changemakers keeping global progress alive at a moment when foreign aid and development are under immense pressure. There's so much to be inspired by here: www.vox.com/future-perfe...
The 2025 Future Perfect 25
Meet the heroes keeping global progress alive.
vox.com
