Lorena Lara
is an award-winning Brazilian journalist, podcast expert, and digital media specialist, currently based in São Paulo, Brazil.
>>> HIGHLIGHTS OF LORENA’S JOURNEY
Narrative Podcasting Pioneer
Lorena is one of the pioneers of narrative-style podcasting in Brazil. In 2019, she created the country’s third Spotify Original podcast—a 10-part documentary series exploring sertanejo, Brazil's most popular music genre. The show led the ranking in Spotify Brazil’s Music podcast category for several weeks following its release.
Audio Strategy at CNN Brazil
She produced the audio programming for CNN Brazil at its launch in 2020, developing five podcasts covering international news, financial markets, pop culture, political analysis, and daily news. One of them, E Tem Mais—which she solely produced, scripted, and directed—was named one of Apple Podcasts’ Top New Podcasts that same year.
Award-Winning Work & Recognition
Her work has been nationally recognized in journalistic podcasting and conceptual writing. In 2021, materials she co-created at Arado won three categories from the Brazilian Design Awards (Public Vote, Jury Vote, and Grand Prix). That same year, she joined O Assunto, which went on to win Brazil’s Best Podcast (iBest 2022) and was featured in the Reuters Digital News Report (2023) as the country’s most popular journalistic podcast.
Training & Early Career
In 2017, Lorena was selected as a trainee for the Curso Focas de Jornalismo at O Estado de S. Paulo. She led the development of the special project website created by the cohort—a multi-layered platform featuring three content levels and interactive tools designed to help Brazilian voters better understand the dynamics of election campaigns, candidate promises, TV, radio, and internet advertising, and potential congressional candidates for the following year.
Design, Culture & Narrative
Beyond the work in newsrooms and documentary production, she also has experience in design and visual arts. At Arado, she was dedicated to researching Brazil’s tangible and intangible rural culture through essays and narrative projects. She also developed a 10-episode podcast series exploring themes such as food traditions, religiosity and folklore, environment and land, folk festivals, music, labor, and community.
Print Journalism
While most of her career has been focused on digital media, she has also contributed to print journalism. Her work has been published in O Estado de S. Paulo—Brazil’s oldest newspaper still in circulation—both as part of the newsroom team and as a freelancer.
Professional Beginnings & Pause
She began her journalism career in 2013 as an intern in Goiânia. Early on, she covered a variety of local topics and took on multiple roles, such as photographer, social media manager, homepage editor, writer, and reporter. In 2024, she took a break from the job market to focus on family and health.