Gisela Pérez de Acha

Gisela Pérez de Acha reports on extremism, disinformation and environmental issues for UC Berkeley’s Investigative Reporting Program with a focus on digital forensics and network analysis. Gisela has a master’s degree from Berkeley Journalism, where she now teaches cybersecurity and open-source investigations for upcoming journalists in a class that she helped create in partnership with the Human Rights Center Investigations Lab. She recently won a Polk Award for her work in Frontline’s film American Insurrection and was also part of an Emmy award-winning team at the New York Times for a story about The Siege of Culiacán. Gisela is a cybersecurity expert and a digital safety trainer with PEN America. Born and raised in Mexico, she was trained as a lawyer before becoming a journalist. She speaks fluent Spanish, English, French and Portuguese.