Gwen Muranaka is an award-winning author, journalist, and newsroom manager with experience in both the U.S. and Japan. She was recognized in 2023 with a Distinguished Journalist Award by the Society of Professional Journalists, Greater Los Angeles chapter, and was named a 2024 Pioneer by the Nisei Week Foundation. For over 20 years, she served as Senior Editor of The Rafu Shimpo, America’s largest bilingual Japanese/English newspaper, overseeing editorial and production, and leading its transition to hybrid operations during the COVID pandemic. Muranaka serves on the boards of the Little Tokyo Community Council, Nichibei Fujinkai, Society of Professional Journalists LA Chapter, and Zentoku Foundation. She is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of UCLA and attended the Art Institute and later studied Waseda University. She worked at The Japan Times as an editor, writer, and cartoonist, and was previously assistant editor of Pacific Citizen. In 2023, she published her first book, Drawing by Heart, a collection of cartoons and cross-cultural commentary. She maintains that community newspapers are the front line of information and must continually evolve to reflect the diversity of its readers.  

She holds a bachelor's degree in Psychology from Faculdades Integradas Maria Thereza FAMATH (2016) and a bachelor's degree in Philosophy from Universidade Federal Fluminense UFF (2019). She is currently pursuing a bachelor's degree in Defense and International Strategic Management from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro UFRJ (in progress), a master's degree in Psychology from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro PUC-Rio (completion 2020), a master's degree in Philosophy from Universidade Federal Fluminense UFF (in progress) and a master's degree in International Relations from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro PUC-Rio (in progress). She was a collaborating psychologist on the Human Rights Commission of the Regional Council of Psychology of Rio de Janeiro CRP-RJ (2019) and has worked as a clinical psychologist since 2017 with experience in providing care to the elderly, adults, children, foreigners and refugees. As a social researcher, she studies topics related to human rights, vulnerable populations, the process of subjectivation, violence and conflicts, the philosophy of language, foreigners and refugees, the process of requesting and eligibility for refugee status, racism and refugee status.