Our Staff
Christopher Leonard
Director
Chris Leonard founded the Watchdog Writers Group in 2019. He is a journalist and author who writes about economic and political power in America. He has written three books, including two New York Times bestsellers “The Lords of Easy Money: How the Federal Reserve Broke the American Economy,” and “Kochland: The Secret History of Koch Industries and Corporate Power in America,” along with “The Meat Racket: The Secret Takeover of America’s Food Business.” Leonard was a senior fellow at The New America Foundation from 2012 through 2017, and was awarded the J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress award in 2017. Leonard writes for publications such as The New York Times, Fortune Magazine, Time Magazine and Politico Magazine. He has discussed his investigations on Fresh Air with Terry Gross, NPR Morning Edition, Morning Joe and Real Time with Bill Maher. He is currently working on his next book, about the U.S. defense industry.
Mya Frazier
Program Director, Student Development
Mya Frazier oversees student mentorship and training efforts at WWG, enriching student access to the best techniques and practices of investigative reporting. Mya is an award-winning investigative and narrative journalist based in the Midwest. Her work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Bloomberg Businessweek, Bloomberg Green, Guardian Long Read, NewYorker.com, Harper’s, Outside, Columbia Journalism Review and Columbus Monthly, among many other publications. She is a former staff writer for The Cleveland Plain Dealer and American City Business Journals. In 2018, the Society of Professional Journalists named her best freelancer in Ohio, and the Ohio Arts Council has honored her twice with Individual Excellence Awards for criticism and nonfiction. She has received fellowships from the Knight-Wallace House at the University of Michigan, the 11th Hour Food and Farming Journalism Program at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, the McGraw Center for Business Journalism at CUNY, and the Ira A. Lipman Center for Journalism and Civil and Human Rights at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
Jennifer Mantle
Director of Operations
Jennifer Mantle, a lifelong Missourian, transitioned to the J-School from MU Health Care after working there for 15 ½ years. She has served in many departments as a Business Support Specialist for Dining & Nutrition, Safety, Emergency Management, Patient Transport, Hospitality, Valet, the Mail Room, Engineering Services, and Planning Design & Construction. Some of her talents include administrator for Smartsheet (she would encourage you to Google it – it is AMAZING), trainer, professional shopper (and personal!), water aerobics instructor (Aqua Kickboxing, anyone?), Microsoft Office Suite expert, accounting, Queen of Accessories (empress seemed too extra), and a fashionista. Either good or bad, she cannot leave the house unless everything is matching down to her socks. Some of her hobbies include decorating, cooking, baking, and anything dog related. Some fun facts include going on five overseas mission trips to two places in Haiti, Ireland & England, Taiwan, and St. Vincent & the Grenadines. Jennifer graduated in 2023 with a BS in Cross-Cultural Ministries from Central Christian College of the Bible. Jennifer is also the fourth cousin to Mickey Mantle.
Watchdog Writers Group funds the type of deep investigative journalism that is under-financed by the private marketplace. We do this by giving annual fellowships to authors, and by hiring students to be reporters alongside them. In doing this, the program hopes to revitalize newsgathering in the middle of the country about vitally important issues
Recent Stories
Watch here for new stories regularly.
“The Unequal Effects of School Closings”
Alec MacGillis
The New Yorker/ProPublica, August 2024
“How a Refugee’s American Dream Ended in a Police Killing”
Ted Genoways
The New Republic, May 2023
“Black, Evangelical and Torn”
Caleb Gayle
New York Times Magazine, March 2023
“The Out Crowd”
Molly O’Toole
This American Life, November 2019