I am delighted to announce two important additions to the Bethesda Beat team, reporters poised to expand our politics and public-service reporting and our coverage of the rich culture of Montgomery County.

A native of Oxon Hill, Prince George’s County, Akira Kyles joined Bethesda Beat this month as a lifestyles reporter focusing on dining, culture and things to do. She graduated in 2018 from Morgan State University, where she served as editor in chief of The MSU Spokesman, the university newspaper. She has previously written for the Afro-American Newspaper and Baltimore City Paper and attended the Politico Journalism Institute. She has been a community news reporter for the Carroll County Times and, most recently, an arts and culture reporter at the Fayetteville Observer in North Carolina.
Reach out to her at @byakirakyles or akira.kyles@bethesdda-remix.newspackstaging.com.

Ginny Bixby joins Bethesda Beat starting this week as a politics and enterprise reporter. She grew up in Manassas, Virginia, and graduated in 2020 from the University of Mary Washington, where she was an editor at the student paper. She previously interned for RVA Magazine and GayRVA in Richmond, Virginia, and the Student Press Law Center in Washington, D.C., and was a correspondent for The Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Most recently, she was the city reporter for The Daily Progress in Charlottesville, Virginia, covering city government and digging into the ways that local government decisions affect marginalized communities.
Reach out to her at @ginny_bixby or ginny.bixby@bethesdda-remix.newspackstaging.com.
Anne Tallent is the executive editor of Bethesda Magazine and Bethesda Beat.