Chelsey Zhu joined KUT News in August 2023, reporting for KUT.org, helping run KUT News’ social media channels and editing KUT News’ daily newsletter.
She says she's always on the lookout for stories that are positive, local and restore people’s faith in humanity.
Previously, she was a producer for the HerMoney Podcast. Outside of work, she loves rock climbing, baking stuff and dumping it all in the office kitchen, eating at diners, and singlehandedly funding the Crescent Shopping Center with frozen bao and taro bread purchases.
“I’ve always wanted to work in public radio — as a kid, I fantasized about signing off a story with, 'Chelsey Zhu, NPR News.' (Yes, that is an extremely weird thing for a 10-year-old to dream about.)"
Connect with Chelsey on X @Chelsey_Zhu
What are you listening to these days?
I’m a hopeless romantic and chronic over sharer at heart, so I listen to a lot of podcasts about relationships, intimacy and how humans are super weird. Death, Sex & Money, Modern Love and Hidden Brain are a few of my favorites.
A podcast episode I love and still think about all the time is Hidden Brain’s “Why Conversations Go Wrong.” It goes into detail about how tiny speech differences — like how long you pause between sentences — can lead to all sorts of misunderstandings. If you ever want to feel super self-conscious about how you talk, I highly recommend it!
Read anything interesting lately?
So, for a long time, I ran a (super informal, zero-budget, extremely bad audio quality) book club podcast with my two best friends. The whole idea was revisiting the books we loved as kids — or reading the books we missed out on back then for the first time — and seeing if they’re actually good books.
Our lives have gotten busy and the podcast has sort of petered off, so we didn’t get to read the last book of the original Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. I recently finished The Last Olympian, and it just reminds me how complicated and insightful kids’ books are. A story about a fantastical battle among Greek gods and demigods is really about imperfect kids fighting to be loved by their imperfect parents.
What are you loving about the ATX lately?
Like my dog, I am highly food-motivated, and I’ve had some great meals around town. I recently had Home Slice’s Italian sub for the first time — SO GOOD. I also love the soft serve ice cream at OMG Squee and the burger at the Brewtorium. The one meal I’ve had at Austin Diner had everything I look for at a greasy spoon: cheap breakfast and lots of it.