Rachael Bale is a freelance journalist who reports on wildlife, the environment, science, health, and more. She has published multiple features on wildlife trafficking in National Geographic magazine, where she led the Animals beat as executive editor for four years. She has a background in investigative reporting and is a two-time Livingston Award nominee for stories digging into inhumane conditions at U.S. Customs and Border Protection holding cells (Reveal, 2013) and into the illegal cheetah cub trade (National Geographic, 2021). She writes and edits features and news stories for digital and print media.

While completing a fellowship at the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit investigative newsroom in Washington, D.C., Rachael earned her Master’s degree in journalism from American University. She has training in Excel and SQL data analysis, and newsroom leadership training from the Poynter Institute. She loves teaching and working with students of all ages. She gets really excited talking about FOIA, public records requests, and media literacy.

Rachael lives in Denver with her husband, son, rescue corgi, and rescue cat.

See her full work history on LinkedIn, and follow her on Twitter at @rachael_bale.