Ariana Proehl is an award-winning storyteller and producer who has worked across film, audio, digital and live events. Ariana most recently directed and produced her first film, the documentary short “Art & Everyday People: The Story of the Betti Ono Foundation” about an Oakland art gallery and organizing hub in the activist tradition of the Black Arts Movement. The film is an Official Selection of the 2026 Detroit Black Film Festival.

Ariana previously worked as a journalist, producer and host at Bay Area NPR and PBS affiliate KQED. As a culture reporter for KQED, she told unique stories about Bay Area life, art and culture, including one that garnered a regional Edward R. Murrow Award for feature reporting. She’s interviewed figures including Maxwell, Tony! Toni! Toné!, Misty Copeland, Erika Alexander, Danyel Smith and Bruce Hornsby. Ariana was a frequent guest anchor and host for KQED’s local Morning Edition, and a guest host and producer on live morning show Forum. For two years, Ariana led KQED’s youth media efforts, creating and managing the first Youth Takeover, a week that showcased stories produced by local high school students across the station’s properties.

When she wanted to see more positive media representations of people of color, Ariana created, executive produced and hosted her own YouTube talk show Know This! with Ariana, as a place to “Know Yourself and Know Your World.” Under her production banner Dream Variations, she toured the show to 14 U.S. cities, interviewing change makers, entrepreneurs, politicians, musicians and artists, including actor/producer Issa Rae and musician Res. Following the tour, she produced and hosted a series of Know This! LIVE talk show events with partners such as Beats by Dre, Generation Progress and New York University.

Prior to her career in media, Ariana was a non-profit leader who, at age 22, became the executive director of youth leadership development organization, DiversityWorks. She then served as a fellow with the nationally recognized Coro Fellows Program in Public Affairs (San Francisco), before going on to earn a Master of Public Administration at NYU’s Wagner School of Public Service. Ariana also holds a BA with Honors in Ethnic Studies from UC Berkeley, where she co-directed and co-curated the former Women of Color Film Festival. You can count on her to make the perfect playlist, give good advice, beat you at the crossword, and go on about whatever album, book or TV show she’s loving at the moment. She is based in Los Angeles.