Joel Lau is a Civil Beat reporting intern. He was born and raised on Oahu, spent his teenage years at Hawaii Baptist Academy and graduated with a degree in journalism and a minor in political science from Boston University in January 2022.

Joel first came to Honolulu Civil Beat as its 2019 summer intern before spending stints at several East Coast publications, exploring issues such as COVID-19 travel restrictions at The Boston Globe and AAPI political representation at Washington D.C. based POLITICO.

Getting his first taste of journalism at the HBA Eagle Eye, Joel is a proud alumni of The Daily Free Press, Boston University’s award winning student newspaper, where he covered Boston city and Massachusetts state politics.

Outside of his work, Joel slogs his way through self-imposed Japanese lessons (working toward JLPT N3) and fills his free time with good food and better people.

Share tips, ideas and bad jokes at jlau@civilbeat.org or follow him on Twitter @JoelLau808.