Olivera Perkins

Olivera is a senior writer at the Chronicle of Philanthropy, where she is part of the collaboration with the Associated Press and the Conversation working to increase the coverage of nonprofits and philanthropies. She joined the staff in April 2021.

She is a veteran journalist who has covered a variety of beats, including business, education, and politics and government. Olivera covered labor, employment, and work-force issues for several years at The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, where her work included investigative stories on how Ohio did not adequately enforce wage theft laws. She broke the story of a 2013 food drive held for workers at a Canton, Ohio, Walmart, who made too little to afford Thanksgiving dinner. Many credit that story with fostering a national conversation about raising the minimum wage. Olivera has received many state and national awards for her coverage, including those from the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing and the National Association of Black Journalists. She also worked at the Hartford Courant and Lead Stories.

Olivera received a master’s degree from the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University and a BA in journalism and politics from New York University. She was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University.