Faces of NPR, AAPI Heritage Month: Asma Khalid

Faces Of NPR showcases the people behind NPR--from the voices you hear every day on the radio to the ones who work outside of the recording studio. You'll find out about what they do and what they're inspired by on the daily. This month, we feature NPR's Asian American and Pacific Islander community. Next up is Asma Khalid

The Basics:

Name: Asma Khalid

Where you're from: Crown Point, Indiana

Title: White House Correspondent

Handle: @asmamk

You have covered many political campaigns for NPR. What kept you going back to doing that? What did you love about it?

I think a lot of times politics tends to focus on the people in power in Washington. I have been really obsessed with how policies affect people. And I think the way to understand that is sometimes through elections and campaigns – you can glimpse how politics is being translated to people in different parts of the country. I'm from the Midwest, and I'm from a pretty small town in Indiana. AndI think one of the big things I have felt is that sometimes political news coverage tends to be a little bit coastal. I've tried to focus on going to disparate parts of this country to understand what people are thinking. I also would argue that [the Midwest] is a lot more diverse than people sometimes also presume that it is. I just love the opportunity to hear from people with different political backgrounds, different faith beliefs, different cultural beliefs, and understand how they come to politics. And if you do a good job of that, I like to think that when election results come around, hopefully you're not too surprised