Executive director Becca Tucker, an award-winning journalist, launched Dirt in 2011 and took it nonprofit in 2023. In addition to helming Dirt, she is also deputy publisher of Straus News. She lives with her partner and three kids on a 14-acre farmstead in Northeast Pennsylvania. After hours you can find her playing ultimate Frisbee, gardening, reading, or paddling on the nearest body of water.

Pete Tucker is a freelance journalist based in the D.C. area. A regular contributor at FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting) and Counterpunch, he specializes in deep dives calling out media bias. An unblinking champion of the First Amendment, he has been hauled off to jail in handcuffs for refusing to cease reporting on an open meeting. If journalism is the fourth estate, then Tucker is the fifth: a watchdog over the watchdog, fearless in his life’s work of calling out the powers that be.

Joe Gara is a farmer, river guide and bookkeeper who keeps chickens, turkeys and ducks on 14 acres in Pennsylvania’s Delaware Water Gap. He volunteered for years with Ultimate Peace, teaching Israeli and Palestinian teenagers the sport of ultimate at overnight camps in the Middle East; and has helped to run the nonprofit organization’s finances. His previous career selling concert t-shirts for corporate record labels brought him all over North America. He is the partner of Dirt editor and publisher, Becca Tucker. Fun fact: Gara has played disc golf in all 50 states.

Felicia Hodges is a New York-based journalist who began to seriously consider a career that would have something to do with the written word when she was in the fourth grade. Over the past 30 years, she has worked as a writer, editor and photojournalist for many local, regional and nationally recognized publications including The Philadelphia Tribune, the oldest daily newspaper serving the African American community. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in photojournalism from Temple University, a Master of Science degree in magazine journalism from Iona College and has been teaching Newswriting, Photojournalism and Media Literacy to college undergraduates since 1991. In addition to her work with newspapers, she spent many years as a staff and contributing writer for a variety of print and online magazines. A member of the Women’s Regional Publishers of America and the National Association of Black Journalists, Felicia is a breast cancer survivor, six-time track and field All-America athlete and third-degree black belt in USA Goju karate who teaches free self-defense classes for area women, children and seniors.

Robin Robinson is CFO of Straus News, formerly VP of finance at Gannett. She brings a wealth of knowledge gleaned from a long career on the business side of journalism, which she has offered up with unmatched generosity, patience and optimism to this new venture, the Dirt Foundation. She is a clerk of session (ruling elder) at Scotchtown Presbyterian Church, where she has been a lifelong member. Fun fact: Robin rescued a turtle that got hit by a car 20 years ago; Philip is still going strong.

Pamela Chergotis is newly retired after two-plus decades helming local newspapers at Straus News with a steady, thorough and perceptive hand. She is also a former editor of the River Reporter. Weekends find her hitting hiking trails or kayaking on the Delaware, adventures she turns into a column aglint with humor for Dirt magazine, where it’s earned a cult following with readers.