Solutions Journalism for Social Justice
Rising Up With Sonali is your weekly antidote to the doom and gloom of mainstream news, lifting up solutions that bring us closer to economic, racial, gender, and environmental justice. I'm Sonali Kolhatkar, host, executive producer, and creator of Rising Up With Sonali.
My radio program airs on Pacifica stations KPFK in Los Angeles, KPFA in Berkeley, and dozens of Pacifica affiliate stations including KBOO in Portland, OR, KGNU in Denver, CO, WMNF in Tampa, FL, KBCS in Bellevue, WA, WGRN in Columbus, OH, and many others. It is available to stations via Pacifica's web portal, Audioport. The television show airs on Free Speech TV (Dish Network, DirecTV, Roku) every Thursday at 1:30 pm PST/4:30 pm EST.
Find me on Social Media!
SOLUTIONS JOURNALISM FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE
This program is brought to you entirely by subscribers.
Always independent. Never beholden to corporate or state actors.
Want to donate without subscribing? Click here to make a one-time donation.
My theme music is an original composition by Grammy award winning band, Quetzal. Special thanks to YES! Media for its invaluable support.
About Me
I'm Sonali Kolhatkar, host, creator, and executive producer of Rising Up With Sonali, a program built on the foundation of my earlier show, Uprising, which became the longest running drive-time radio show on KPFK in Los Angeles hosted by a woman.
🎤 I run this show. Every aspect of it, television, radio, podcast. From booking guests, to researching stories, writing copy, live engineering, running a teleprompter, post-production edits and mixing, uploading, social media promotion, rinse and repeat. What takes others an entire team of 4 or 5 people, I do entirely on my own, using skills I've built on for 25 years.
🏆 Oh yeah, I've won a few awards:
I've won numerous awards for my journalism including Best TV Anchor from the LA Press Club in 2015, and I was also nominated for Best Radio Anchor 4 years in a row. I won First Place at the Los Angeles Press Club Annual Awards for Best National Commentary Political Online (2022) for my YES! story, "Afghan Feminists Told Us War Wouldn’t Free Them." LA Press Club judges remarked, "This searing assessment of U.S. policy in Afghanistan focuses on the women who tried to make America understand it was fueling, not stopping, the Taliban. A stunning work that arguably belongs on some desks in Washington."
I also won Best Election Commentary (2016) for my Truthdig essay, "We Need to Understand What Happened on Election Night, and Fast." LA Press Club judges wrote, "Kolhatkar’s sobering analysis of Trump’s election win framed by an explanation of it to her young child is an excellent piece of political commentary."
Several social justice organizations have also recognized me over the years including the South Asian Network, Hunger Action LA, and the Center for the Study of Political Graphics.
📚 I write books!
My fourth and latest book is Breaking ICE: Community Defense Against State Terror and MAGA Fascism (Seven Stories, 2026).
My earlier books include Talking About Abolition: A Police-Free World is Possible (Seven Stories, 2025) and Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice (Citylights, 2023).
My first book was Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence (Seven Stories, 2006) co-authored with Jim Ingalls.
✍🏾 How do I make a living as a journalist? Read on...
In addition to running this subscriber-based radio and TV show, I freelance for several media outlets. I am a Writing Fellow and the Senior Correspondent for the Independent Media Institute's Economy for All project, a monthly contributor to Truthout, Senior Correspondent for The Zero Hour, and a monthly columnist at OtherWords (a project of Institute for Policy Studies). From 2021, I worked as Senior editor at YES! Magazine covering race, economy, and democracy, until YES! closed its doors in June 2024. Previously I was also a weekly columnist for Truthdig.com.
I am also co-Director of the non-profit group, Afghan Women's Mission and serve on the board of Justice Action Center.
🎓 The thing I get asked most about is this: I have a Masters degree in Astronomy from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. Before I became a journalist, I worked at Caltech on one of NASA's space telescopes writing software. Watch my 2014 Tedx talk, My journey from astrophysicist to radio host to learn why and how I switched careers so dramatically.
I have spoken at countless panels, workshops, speaker series, community forums, and book events.
👑 But wait, there's more! My first novel, Queen of Aarohi will publish in Fall 2027 by Red Hen Press. It's a speculative fiction romance tracing the messy evolution of a monarchy's transition to democracy.
Originally from India and born and raised in the United Arab Emirates, I am a novelist, artist, musician, baker and cook and live with my husband, two kids, two parents, and a cat in Pasadena, California. Visit my personal website, www.sonalikolhatkar.com.
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to my technical support lead James Ingalls for website support, to Michael Luong and Natalie Pryor for graphic design and branding, and to Evette Dionne and Sunnivie Brydum for championing and guiding the show.
And a huge thank you to my loyal viewers and listeners from all over the country who encouraged me to not let external obstacles stand in the way of creating and disseminating good journalism!