✦ MAIA MCDONALD ✦
FREELANCE JOURNALIST AND FUNKY FASHION ENTHUSIAST
Welcome!
Maia McDonald (she/her) is an award-winning Chicago-based freelance journalist. Most recently, she did reporting, visuals, and audience engagement for the Investigative Project on Race and Equity. She also serves as a board member for the Chicago Journalists Association.
Maia has reported for several news outlets, including Austin Weekly News, Block Club Chicago, Borderless Magazine, The Chicago Reader, City Bureau, In These Times, The Guardian, Teen Vogue, and The TRiiBE.
Her work has also been republished by Cicero Independienté, Chalkbeat Chicago, the Chicago Sun-Times, Capital B News, Grist, Wisconsin Watch, and others. She’d love to work with you too!
Maia’s experience has included reporting on flooding in the Calumet region, Illinois labor law and the temporary service industry, Chicago aldermanic elections, and more, links for which can be found on her Muck Rack page, the reporting page of this site, or below.
To learn even more about Maia and her journalistic experience, please explore more of maiamcdonald.me! Thanks for stopping by!
Recent Work:
Inside The Viral Kat Abughazaleh ICE Rally Tear-Gassing Video: “Fascism 101” — Abughazaleh, 26, was thrown to the ground at a Chicago ICE protest. The clip drew harassment from Laura Loomer and other right-wingers. Teen Vogue, 09/30/25. Read a preview. ✦ View as PDF.
Chicago gears up as Trump troop deployment looms: ‘We aren’t helpless’ — City on edge as Trump threatens to send in national guard, but organizers and residents are taking steps to push back. The Guardian, 09/05/25. Read a preview. ✦ View as PDF.
Democratic socialists think they’re on a winning streak – can they build on Zohran Mamdani’s victory? — Energized after a big New York victory, the group is trying to expand their reach. The Guardian, 08/17/25. Read a preview. ✦ View as PDF.
At Illinois public universities, campus cops pull over Black drivers at higher rates — Campus police also ticketed Black drivers more often than white motorists who were stopped, a first-of-its-kind analysis of stops shows. The Investigative Project on Race and Equity (repub. by the Chicago Sun-Times), 05/30/25. Read a preview. ✦ View as PDF.
Illinois is the last state to unlawfully strip wealth from homeowners caught in tax foreclosure** — A decades-old state law allows private investors to take people’s homes — and all of their home equity — over unpaid property taxes. Critics say it’s a racist policy most impacting Black communities. The nation’s highest court recently ruled homeowners are entitled to their fair share, but Illinois lawmakers have failed to act. The Investigative Project on Race and Equity and Injustice Watch, 05/14/25. Read a preview. ✦ View as PDF.
**Double asterisks indicate a story where Maia contributed reporting.