Jo Napolitano spent nearly two decades reporting for The New York Times, Chicago Tribune and Newsday before winning a Spencer Education Fellowship to Columbia University in 2016. It was through this remarkable opportunity that she wrote The School I Deserve: Six Young Refugees and Their Fight for Equality in America (Beacon Press, 2021.) A sought-after public speaker, Napolitano lectures across the country about the often-overlooked potential of newcomer students.

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And while she has reported on many topics throughout her award-winning career, education remains her primary focus, and for good reason: It was the only means through which she would escape poverty. Born in Bogota, Colombia, Napolitano was placed in an orphanage where she nearly died of starvation before she was adopted by a blue-collar family from Long Island. Raised by a single parent, she is a first-generation college graduate having earned her bachelor’s degree from Medill at Northwestern University.

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Napolitano lives in New York City and writes for The 74, an award-winning education news site that often partners with other, larger news organizations. Napolitano’s on-the-ground account of Ukrainian and Russian refugees crossing into San Diego from Tijuana after the outbreak of war ran in The Guardian, as did a story about teachers saying goodbye to undocumented students who self-deport.

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Napolitano is a two-time Education Writers Association Fellow (2020 and 2024) and is also a grantee from the Fund for Investigative Journalism (2020). She was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 2025 for her 17-month long investigation of enrollment discrimination against older immigrant students. She received an honorary doctorate for her reporting from Molloy University on Long Island in May 2026. Two months later, The National Association of Hispanic Journalists gave her a first-place award for her work in education.

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Visit her website