ELENA
VASQUEZ
Investigative Reporter · Conflict & Accountability
Twelve years. Four continents. The stories no one else would print.
47
Bylines Published
9
Awards & Honours
THE
RECORD
Five years of frontline reporting. Every piece fact-checked twice, sourced in the open, and standing uncorrected.
The Paper Trail: How Federal Contractors Laundered $2.4B Through Shell Companies
An 18-month investigation into procurement fraud spanning three administrations and two continents.
Left Behind: The Veterans the VA Stopped Counting
Exclusive data analysis reveals 14,000 veterans removed from wait-list records before their deaths.
Inside the Drought Brokers: Water Rights and the New West
A reported narrative from the Colorado River basin, where water has become the most contested currency in America.
The Quiet Coup: How Surveillance Software Rewrote Democracy in Three Nations
A cross-border investigation tracking the export of Israeli spyware to authoritarian governments.
Fossil Fuel Subsidies: The $700 Billion Secret Kept by Eleven Governments
Leaked treasury documents from four countries reveal the true cost of the clean energy delay.
THE
WORK
Multi-year investigations. Primary sources. Documents that weren't meant to be read.
The Concrete Cartel
A two-year embedded investigation into bid-rigging across $14 billion in public infrastructure contracts. Sources inside three federal agencies, 40,000 leaked procurement documents, and a whistleblower who waited nine years to speak.
"The most consequential piece of infrastructure accountability journalism published in a decade."
$14B
Contracts Exposed
24 months reporting
40K documents reviewed
Missing from the Map
A national database investigation cross-referencing 1.2 million police incident reports with census data revealed systematic under-reporting of violent crime in 34 cities — concentrated in precincts where the population is majority Black or Latino.
"Her database methodology has since been adopted as a reporting standard by three major newsrooms."
34
Cities Documented
14 months reporting
1.2M records analysed
ON
AIR
From Frontline documentaries to Senate-cited television segments — the work that moved beyond print.
PBS Frontline
The Concrete Cartel — Feature Documentary
Co-producer and on-camera correspondent for the 90-minute Frontline documentary based on the original investigation.
NPR All Things Considered
The Water Wars: Who Owns the Colorado River?
Four-part audio series produced in partnership with NPR, reaching 2.3 million listeners in its first week.
Columbia Journalism School
Data as Source: Building Investigations from Public Records
Annual Stabile lecture on investigative methodology. Adapted into a widely shared MasterClass curriculum.
MSNBC Morning Joe
Breaking: VA Wait-List Document Leak Analysis
Live analysis segment following the original ProPublica investigation. Cited in subsequent Senate hearing.
PROPOSE A
COLLABORATION
Inquiries are accepted from publications, media nonprofits, book publishers, documentary production companies, and academic institutions.
No PR firms. No content marketing. No ghostwriting.
Media Kit
Full press materials, bio, and clip archive — PDF, 4.2 MB