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United States
Ashley Onnembo is a multimedia journalist based in Boston, Massachusetts. She possesses background experience in photojournalism, documentary collaboration, creating and editing newsletters, hosting guest DJ sets and producing audio stories. Her specialization lies in writing long-form feature and profile articles. In addition to publishing new pieces, Ashley also writes narrative nonfiction essays.
Ashley graduated from Emerson College with a B.S. in Journalism in Aug. 2023. While in attendance, she covered everything from Michelle Wu's city mayor campaign to maintaining a beat on Greater Boston's environmental and sustainability efforts. Ashley acted as the Editor-in-Chief of Five Cent Sound Magazine for a year and a half, held a position as a music writing and editing intern at the Boston Hassle in summer 2022, and worked as a media intern at Jam in the Van in spring 2023.
Through her reporting experience, Ashley discovered a passion for music journalism. She approaches her stories by bringing music into conversation with culture, gender politics and history as a way of understanding society. She also reports on matters that directly impact independent artists, up-and-coming artists, and local music scenes.
Overall, Ashley believes solution-based reporting, advocacy, and uplifting diverse narratives are essential to her storytelling. To get in contact with Ashley, please email [email protected]. If Ashley isn't responding to emails, she's probably painting, attending a house show or reading a new memoir!
Local organizations and supporters rallied in front of the Massachusetts State House for a special legislative session on Oct. 28, 2022. A mix of public speakers and personal interviews shared why it is essential to override Gov. Baker's veto of the jail and prison constitution moratorium. This video package was entirely shot, edited, and produced by Ashley Onnembo.
Most sixth graders scour Youtube for the newest music videos or comedy skits; at twelve years old, Natan Santos combed the website for educational videos that broke speech sounds of certain letters and words into clear syllables. Growing up in Hyde Park with a Puerto Rican-Dominican background, Santos spoke both English and Spanish. Each elementary and middle school he attended used his bilingualism as a blanket statement that explained his delayed grasp on concepts like reading. The lack...
I edited all articles and executed the design/layout for this special issue. Read more about the process in my EIC letter on the third page!
Transparency: I volunteer as ArtSpark's monthly newsletter specialist. For the second installment of ArtSpark’s Artist Spotlight series, I (virtually) sat down with Roster Artist Cyan Sueño to discuss his recent EP, Take It With You.
Haus tells the story of one ballroom house in the Greater New England area. The Haus of Mulan, brings together a group of young energetic dancers from various backgrounds and ethnicities hoping to make their presence known to ballroom fans across the country. Read the full synopsis, get exclusive behind the scenes content and more by visiting our project website!
Transparency: I volunteer as ArtSpark's monthly newsletter specialist. This is the first installment of the Artist Spotlight series I created for this organization! I interviewed DREION, an artist slated to perform at the Radical Heroes showcase in partnership with the Museum of Fine Arts. I conducted preliminary reporting/research to formulate each question and transcribed the hour-long conversation.
Dani Ducharme, Kristen Cawog, Joy Freeman, Nicholas Gemma, Jack Barnes, Mollie Sullivan and I got the opportunity of a lifetime to interview Phoebe Bridgers, Marshall Vore & Harrison Whitford for an exclusive Halloween-themed Q&A!
Jumpin’ Jack Flash. Bunrattys. The Rathskeller (famously known as The Rat). Chet’s Last Call. The simple utterance of these venue names — and many others — makes the ears of artists and admirers entrenched in Boston’s ’80s rock and post-punk underground music scene instantly perk up. The task of keeping these places alive falls into the laps of local musicians, but they happily recount how it felt to share the stage with heroes like Hüsker Dü and The Beastie Boys. The conversation is as...
In this joint interview with Joy Freeman, we discuss the creative process behind Harrison Whitford's latest album Afraid of Nothing, the euphoria of touring after a pandemic-induced hiatus, and his experience collaborating with established musicians and producers like Phoebe Bridgers and Tony Berg. The trimmed Q&A can be found in the Fall 2021 issue of Five Cent Sound's print magazine!
Residents of Dorchester, a community stretching over a six square mile radius, only have five major supermarkets to choose from: two America’s Food Baskets and Super Stop and Shops, a Shaws and a Price Rite. Although the amount of options seems to have increased over time, it doesn’t necessarily translate to an ease in accessing healthy foods. The Dorchester community has banded together in recent years to expand access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Options like Brother’s Supermarkets...
Willie Dunn grew up with a yearning to believe. The Orchard Park native didn’t have a belief system that shaped his immediate family: what Dunn valued was extremely different from what his sister considered important, even though the two were raised in the same household.
When you hear the phrase “the heart and soul of Cambridge,” it’s hard to imagine any area besides Central Square. Home to mom-and-pop shops and artwork that transforms mundane structures into reimagined canvases, the vibrant neighborhood is defined by its community and culture. The futuristic, glass-walled businesses tucked between 1800s brownstones represent the industrial aspects of this community that are essential to Cambridge’s character and college population. Inspired by the harmonious...
Check out my fourth Emerson Spotlight profile on student band My Green Bananas featured in the publication's Spring 2022 print issue! You can view the whole magazine at: https://issuu.com/fivecentsound/docs/five_cent_ sound_spring_2022_print_magazine
Check out my third Emerson Spotlight profile on student artist Anna Miller featured in the publication's Fall 2021 print issue! You can view the whole magazine at: https://issuu.com/fivecentsound/docs/five_cent_ sound_fall_2021_final
In what felt like the first time in centuries, I lifted my laptop open to launch Zoom. Albeit it was just me and my reflection in the moments leading up to 2:30 pm EST the oddly similar pang of apprehension that I associated with logging onto a class populated by muted microphones and blank screens hit me as if no time had truly passed. Another square appeared above mine and I inadvertently released a sharp, tense breath. Elliott Douglas, famously known as M.A.G.S., smiled brighter than the...
Check out my second Emerson Spotlight profile on student artist Noelle Rene featured in the publication's Spring 2021 print issue! You can view the whole magazine at: https://issuu.com/fivecentsound/docs/s21
Check out my first Emerson Spotlight profile on student artist Max Davis featured in the publication's Fall 2020 print issue! You can view the whole magazine at: https://issuu.com/fivecentsound/docs/fcs_for_issuu
Mirrors: the two-dimensional reflections expose an array of truths. There’s no detail the glass coated with metal amalgam fails to highlight (or in some cases, warp). For five years, Sammy Rivas did not look at any part of her body in the mirror. Being trapped in a relationship of domestic violence convinced her she was not beautiful and no one, not even herself, could appreciate her physique. Feeling overwhelmed with intense emotions, Rivas knew the only place she could look to unpack them...
Check out one of my tiny mic interviews w/ attendees at the Skip the Record showcase hosted at Jam in the Van for their social media platforms!
Emotions associated with avoidance live in the right side of the brain — but the only thing Rigs dodges is logic. Boston-based musician Rigs relies on creative expression to make sense of the world — what studying textbooks can supply for some is what constructing zines, drawing freehand sketches, and performing music provides for her. The cathartic experience helps confront the changing tides in her life (and lends an excuse to leave basic math for the calculator). As we gushed over the...
Check out a snippet from my tiny mic interview w/ Egg Drop Soup, an all-womxn punk trio based in LA!
Check out my review of The Backfires debut EP "Consider the Backfires" and interview with the band!
I approached Cambridge's home for avant-garde music and art just as the golden hour sun cast its rays throughout Inman Square on Thursday, July 21. Nestled between an Irish pub and a community craft workspace, The Lilypad looks unsuspecting in broad daylight; it’s only the flicker of outdoor stringed lights that helps passersby notice the venue’s exterior shades of viridian and a stained glass mushroom window pane — or at the very least, the band of smokers congregating under it.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: In honor of the Black creators who inspired this piece, and for every Black person who lost their life at the hands of the biased judicial system, I will be donating $1 to Color of Change for every song sent to me that reflects the signs of our time [donation capped when $100 maximum is reached]. Color of Change is our country’s largest online racial justice organization mobilizing 1.4 million members dedicated to knocking down the walls holding Black folx back. Submissions can...
Our city is defined by color — we see it in the changing leaves, the buildings brightening up our streets, and the generational stories informing each neighborhood’s historic evolution. Some people could argue the pandemic stripped us of this vibrancy; others could see the public health crisis as an opportunity to notice what hues weren’t being represented. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, Boston’s public art scene began featuring pieces inclusive of the discourse and varying cultures...
Clad in black leather and a lip that curled on demand, Elvis Presley broke television ratings with his NBC 1968 comeback special. The ripples of his defiant performance didn’t hit Mike Slater until five years after its original air date. Slater’s mother controlled the remote playing the rerun, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away from Presley’s writhing motions and increasing guttural wails. Later that year, Slater received Presley’s debut studio album for his seventh birthday...
Think about what you’re feeling in this exact moment — are your hands folded together or sliding back-and-forth across the tops of your thighs? Is your breathing shallow and stagnant or deep and hasty? Does your chest tighten as thoughts about your never ending to-do list swirl around your mind, or is it open to the unpredictable possibilities that lie ahead of you? Seren Cho, an undergraduate student at Emerson College, is no stranger to the unnecessary thoughts and self-analysis clouding...
I interviewed Jessica Onnembo, a postpartum and NICU nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, to discover how social distancing regulations, transmission, and health outcomes affect newborn children and their mothers. This video package was entirely shot, edited, and produced by Ashley Onnembo.
