Kaila Philo is a journalist based in Washington, D.C., where she writes about politics, policy, law and criminal justice.

She currently works as a research and writing fellow at the African American Policy Forum. Previously, she’s worked as the social media coordinator for the Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival, an investigative reporter for Talking Points Memo, the government and political institutions reporter for Grid News (now The Messenger), the Justice Department correspondent for Courthouse News Service, and an editorial fellow on the Politics and Ideas desks at The Atlantic.

Her writing has been published in Talking Points Memo, POLITICO, The Atlantic, The New Republic, Washington Monthly, Washingtonian Magazine, Vice News, The Appeal, Jewish Currents, The Baffler, The Fader, and more.

She’s been chosen for the 2023 class of the Maynard Institute For Journalism Education’s fellowship program on the Investigative Storytellers track. Previously, she took part in the Periplus Collective’s inaugural fellowship class, where she was mentored by New Yorker staff writer Alexis Okeowo.

︎︎