Kendra Nordin Beato is an award-winning staff writer and editor with an interest in culture stories that explore the cross-sections of gender, sports, and food. Kendra is also the creator and manager of the Monitor’s current robust internship program that includes a rigorous curriculum and on-the-job skills training.
In more than two decades with the Monitor, Kendra has edited features, national news, and commentary pieces. After a stint with Monitor Radio, she has held a wide range of editing positions at the Monitor, including assistant opinion page editor and interim opinion page editor; a national news editor focused on news from the American West; and features assistant editor of books and food, where she developed her passion for food writing. She joined the inaugural weekly magazine staff, serving eight years as staff editor. In that position, she launched a daily recipe blog called Stir It Up! with 17 cooperating food bloggers. She was also an editor on the rapid response team before developing the Monitor’s new internship program.
As a feature writer, Kendra has covered a range of topics from the serious to the whimsical, including women farmers, climate change as art, profiles of people making a difference, and the rise of urban farming. She visited a hedgehog hospital in England, learned three kinds of surfing in 24 hours in Southern California, how to play the Appalachian mountain dulcimer in Kentucky, and played against women’s soccer legends Mia Hamm and Kristine Lilly in Georgia.
Awards
She was awarded First Place (Climate and Weather Reporting) by the New England Newspaper and Press Association for her July 14, 2023 story When the floods surged, a focus on readiness helped Vermont. She was awarded First Place (sports) by the Society for Features Journalism for her April 1, 2021, cover story, Breaking grass ceilings: Why more women are coaching men’s teams. She was nominated for a James Beard Foundation media award for her July 11, 2011, cover story, The Big Stir: America’s new culinary renaissance.
Kendra earned a master’s degree in American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She graduated with a BA from Principia College in Elsah, Illinois, with a double major in history/English and a focus on women’s studies.
Notable stories
Cover story: Title IX at 50: How 37 words changed the world for women
Cover story: Breaking grass ceilings: Why more women are coaching men’s teams (2022 Society for Features Journalism winner)
Cover story: The Big Stir: America’s new culinary renaissance (nominated for a 2012 James Beard Foundation media award)
Podcast: It’s much bigger than Caitlin Clark: Our writer tallies women’s recent gains
When the floods surged, a focus on readiness helped Vermont (2024 New England Newspaper and Press Association winner)
Hack your fridge: Delicious meals with less waste (2024 New England Newspaper and Press Association second place, food page)
Mariachi singer turns loss into love for arts – and community
Swim pioneer Bill Meier’s mission is to transcend fear, increase safety
First Thanksgiving: How a Native woman is setting the record straight
‘Our voice matters’: Promoting female composers in classical music
Finding their voices: Music feeds the soul for women facing homelessness
A young Boston restaurateur who’s helping to change the game
Women farmers take the tractor wheel
Rediscovering Indigenous foods – and a way of life
Eating in: How to transform pantry staples into comfort food
Stories by Kendra Nordin Beato
- Driven by Caitlin Clark mania, women’s basketball soars on sellout crowds
- Father and son cooking duo stirs up Chinese cuisine
- Review Hack your fridge: Delicious meals with less waste
- How a classical pianist reinvents herself in major and minor ways
- Podcast: Why We Wrote This What a kick! Reporting a soccer story that became something more.
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