Jo Erickson

Editor/Producer, Audio Innovations Studio

Jo Erickson is a podcast producer for the CPR Audio Innovations Studio.

Professional Background: Jo joined CPR in 2020 after working as a daily talk show producer, podcast producer and occasional reporter at Minnesota Public Radio and American Public Media Group. Before joining MPR, Jo worked for the BBC as a documentary producer and journalist. She produced hard hitting documentaries looking at inner city gangs and knife crimes, violent animal rights activists, and followed rioters during the London riots. She also produced the BBC documentaries "My Best Friends Murder" and "My Murder."

Jo moved from Britain to the U.S. in 2013 and has worked in the U.S. as a print journalist, news producer and podcast producer.  Occasionally she reports stories on race in America for the BBC's "From Your Own Correspondent."

Achievements: As a producer for MPR News Counter Stories, Jo won a 2017 NABJ Salute To Excellence award.

Dreams

We follow educator Paulina Lerma as she attempts to break the glass ceiling to become a Latina principal

Safe Space

We follow Naomi Lopez as she tries to steer her local school board toward equity policies while addressing her concerns that her gender-fluid child is a target because of some board members’ anti-LGBTQ comments.

No Equity, No Voice

We follow Melissa Hall, a Black parent, as she feels the full impact of withholding equity policies as a school volunteer and a mother of four kids.
On Something: By Any Other Name

By Any Other Name

If you Google the question “Is marijuana racist?” there’s no shortage of articles available to try and answer the question definitively. But the racial baggage behind the word is much more complicated than a simple yes or no answer.
Systemic Podcast 3x2

Dismantle

In this year when rethinking law enforcement is at the center of a global conversation, we follow an activist working to hold those in power accountable for change.
Systemic Podcast 3x2

Survivor

The death of a Black man in Colorado Springs left a grieving family searching for answers in a complicated and frustrating legal system.
Systemic Podcast 3x2

Black and Blue

Meet two Black police officers — a young officer in the Minneapolis suburbs and a veteran sheriff’s deputy in Colorado Springs — working to protect their communities at a pivotal moment.
Systemic Podcast 3x2

Introducing Systemic: A Show About Police Reform

Since the death of George Floyd in 2020, America has been searching its soul over questions of racial injustice. Many people are looking for solutions to change a police culture that disproportionately harms people of color. They’re asking hard questions about what should be done to reform law enforcement. To capture this defining moment, we followed a group of people across the U.S., working to change police departments from the outside and within.