Golden State Today

As graduation approaches, Daniella Lake, a media studies student at Berkeley, has decided to encapsulate her college experience in a unique way. Born in Los Angeles and the first American-born member of her Sierra Leonean family, Lake's life journey has been far from ordinary.

Lake's parents migrated from Sierra Leone due to the civil war that ravaged the country in the 1990s. Consequently, her siblings spent their formative years in various African countries such as Eritrea, Ghana, and Gambia while working for the United Nations.

Her passion for public speaking began when she was around 9 or 10 years old, reading scriptures at Catholic school mass on Fridays and at her Methodist church services on Sundays. She also gave speeches and read poetry by Black poets during Black History Month. This early exposure to public speaking ignited her love for spoken word.

At age 15, Lake delved into podcasting due to her fondness for storytelling. Her podcast, Life Told By A Stranger, already boasts three seasons. The show is currently on hiatus since she started attending UC Berkeley but plans are underway for a new season set to be released this summer.

Lake's podcast features an array of guests whom she asks one key question: "If you were to write an autobiography, what is one story you’d have to include?" According to Lake, this question reveals how guests define themselves and offers insight into their identity.

The upcoming season will feature interviews with friends she made during college. Having matured over the years, Lake believes they all have valuable insights to share.

Lake also spent a semester studying abroad in Rome last year and plans to dedicate an episode of her podcast to that experience. Other episodes will explore topics like Black female friendship and community building among minorities based on conversations with friends she met through Black Lives at Cal.

She also plans episodes featuring a housemate with whom she spent a summer in Washington, D.C., and a mentor from the Cal Alumni Mentors program. Lake aims to create a time capsule of her time at Berkeley through these episodes.

Her studies at Berkeley have made her realize the power of framing stories in media. She points out that African history as taught in K-12 education often starts with slavery or colonization, ignoring the rich history and culture that predates these events.

After graduation, Lake will join a one-year master's program in journalism at USC where she plans to specialize in food journalism. Her ultimate goal is to start a food media company that uses food stories tied to culture and history as tools to educate people about the African diaspora.

Lake believes that food can serve as an easy access point to other cultures and a positive way to bring people together. She is determined to use it as a tool for change.