Rachel Martin Rachel Martin is a host of Up First on Sunday.
RM, 2022
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Rachel Martin

Stephen Voss/NPR
RM, 2022
Stephen Voss/NPR

Rachel Martin

Host, Up First Sunday

Rachel Martin is a founding host of NPR's award-winning morning news podcast Up First. Martin's interviews take listeners behind the headlines to understand the people at the center of those stories.

She spent six years as a host of Morning Edition, and was previously the host of Weekend Edition Sunday for four years, where she launched the "For the Record" series.

Martin also served as National Security Correspondent for NPR, where she covered both defense and intelligence issues. She traveled regularly to Iraq and Afghanistan with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and his successor Leon Panetta, reporting on the U.S. wars and the effectiveness of the Pentagon's counterinsurgency strategy. Martin also reported extensively on the changing demographic of the U.S. military – from the debate over whether to allow women to fight in combat units, to the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell. Her reporting on how the military is changing also took her to a U.S. Air Force base in New Mexico for a rare look at how the military trains drone pilots.

Martin also worked as a NPR foreign correspondent based in Berlin from 2005-2006. During her time in Europe, she covered the London terrorist attacks, the election of Angela Merkel as Chancellor to Germany, the 2006 World Cup and issues surrounding immigration and shifting cultural identities in Europe.

Her foreign reporting experience extends beyond Europe. Martin has also worked extensively in Afghanistan. She began reporting from there as a freelancer during the summer of 2003, covering the reconstruction effort in the wake of the U.S. invasion. In fall 2004, Martin returned for several months to cover Afghanistan's first democratic presidential election. She has reported widely on human rights issues in Afghanistan, the fledgling political and governance system and the U.S.-NATO fight against the insurgency. She also reported from Iraq, where she covered U.S. military operations and the strategic alliance between Sunni sheiks and the U.S. military in Anbar province. She traveled to Saudi Arabi in 2015 to report on women's rights and in 2022 she reported from Ukraine's border with Belarus in the leadup to the Russian war.

Martin was part of the team that launched NPR's experimental morning news show, The Bryant Park Project, based in New York — a live two-hour daily multimedia program that she co-hosted with Alison Stewart and Mike Pesca.

In 2006-2007, Martin served as NPR's religion correspondent. Her piece on Islam in America was awarded "Best Radio Feature" by the Religion News Writers Association in 2007. As one of NPR's reporters assigned to cover the Virginia Tech massacre that same year, she was on the school's campus within hours of the shooting and on the ground in Blacksburg, Va., covering the investigation and emotional aftermath in the following days. In 2011, her story on racial discrimination in Hollywood won a Salute to Excellence Award from the National Association of Black Journalists and her series on the effects of the opioid epidemic on children won a Gracie award in 2019.

Martin started her career at public radio station KQED in San Francisco as a producer and reporter.

She holds an undergraduate degree in political science and an honorary doctorate from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Wash. Martin also holds a Master's degree in international affairs from Columbia University.

She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband and two sons.

Story Archive

This writer sees parenthood as the ultimate 'ego death'

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Jia Tolentino talks about God and psychedelics and finding comfort in chaos. Elena Mudd hide caption

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Elena Mudd

She chased 'ego death' — first in religion, then in parenthood

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This atheist chaplain treats 'Jane Eyre' as sacred text

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Seeking community isn't always easy. Andry Ryan/Getty Images hide caption

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The search for a church that isn't a church

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Vanessa Zoltan's memoir is all about how she learned to read literature like sacred texts. TarcherPerigree/Penguin Random House hide caption

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TarcherPerigree/Penguin Random House

This 'Jane Eyre' enthusiast invites you to treat your favorite books as sacred text

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Vanessa Zoltan says the theology that she was raised in was the Holocaust. Vanessa Zoltan hide caption

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Vanessa Zoltan

Why this chaplain sees her atheism as a gift

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Rainn Wilson leans into the idea of a spiritual journey for humanity. Evan Agostini/Evan Agostini/Invision/AP hide caption

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Evan Agostini/Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

Why 'the guy' from 'The Office' wants a spiritual revolution

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Patty Krawec at a Wet'suwet'en solidarity event at the Canada-U.S. border. Patty Krawec hide caption

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Patty Krawec

This writer shares the right (and wrong) ways to honor Indigenous spirituality

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Professor Lisa Miller has dedicated most of her career to the study of neuroscience and spirituality. Getty hide caption

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This Ivy League researcher says spirituality is good for our mental health

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Poet Hanif Abdurraqib has struggled with grief from losing important people in his life. He reflects on the ways his spirituality is defined by his understanding of loss. Maddie McGarvey hide caption

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Maddie McGarvey

Why this poet sees grief as its own kind of spiritual practice

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Dan Harris meditating. Ten Percent Happier hide caption

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Ten Percent Happier

The former news anchor at the center of the mindfulness movement

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A breakup led this former White House speechwriter to rediscover her Jewish faith

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Ayyā Somā (left) and Bhante Suddhāso (right), the co-founders of Empty Cloud Monastery. Ayyā Somā hide caption

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Ayyā Somā

These Buddhist monks want their faith to be known for more than just mindfulness

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Sarah Hurwitz grew up in what she would describe as a culturally Jewish home. But it wasn't until she reached her 30s that she really connected with the spiritual identity she was raised with. Sarah Hurwitz hide caption

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Sarah Hurwitz

She found meaning where she least expected it — her childhood faith

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