Last December, Aspen Anderson became editor of the Vashon Beachcomber, joining the ranks of an impressive legacy of editors who have helped shape the voice of our island. Join us as we go behind the scenes to hear about Aspen’s path to the newsroom, what drew her to local journalism, and why telling the stories of a community still matters.

A former Beachcomber intern, Aspen joined the paper as a full-time reporter in 2025 after working as a crimes and cops reporter for The Daily Herald and reporting for the Los Angeles Times features desk, where she focused on multimedia storytelling and feature writing.

A 2024 graduate of the University of Washington with degrees in journalism and psychology, Anderson has also reported from Olympia and Thailand, with work rooted in community-centered, people-focused journalism. Her bylines include The Seattle Times, Cascade PBS and the Bangkok Post. She won the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association’s News Writer of the Year award for work produced during her Beachcomber internship, and also earned a national Hearst Award for feature writing.

When not reporting, she enjoys baking, gardening, hiking and making wine from homegrown grapes.

Photo Credit: Alex Bruell