Meet Kenichi Serino

Kenichi Serino is a deputy managing editor at MPR News. He manages the culture and community unit, which includes reporters and editors who cover the Minneapolis and St. Paul metro area, immigration, health and the Native News team.

Kenichi got his start as a wire reporter for the South African Press Association, covering politics, labor and immigration. Later he covered the death of Nelson Mandela, rhino poaching, protests and race and inequality for a variety of publications including Al Jazeera, USA Today, The Atlantic and Thomson Reuters in South Africa.

Back in this hemisphere, he worked in the Caribbean, first as the politics and government reporter at The St. Croix Avis in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and then as the managing editor of the St. Kitts and Nevis Observer.

Before joining MPR News in 2026, he was the deputy digital news editor at the PBS NewsHour.

Kenichi is from a small village in Northern Michigan, pop. 498. He is a doggie foster dad and has welcomed — and said goodbye to — over a dozen good bois and good gurls at his home.

You can find Kenichi Serino on LinkedIn.