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Rachel Adams-Heard
Reporter at Bloomberg
Rachel Adams-Heard is a reporter at Bloomberg LP based in Houston, Texas.1 She has been with Bloomberg since June 2018, initially as an Energy Reporter and currently as a Reporter on the investigations team since August 2021.1
Career Highlights
Rachel's career in journalism includes:
- Current Role: Reporter on Bloomberg's investigations team (August 2021 - present)1
- Previous Roles at Bloomberg:
Before joining Bloomberg full-time, she worked as an Energy Reporter at S&P Global Market Intelligence from September 2016 to May 2018.1
Education
Rachel graduated from Washington and Lee University with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Journalism (2012-2016).1 During her time at university, she was involved with the Ring Tum Phi and Rockbridge Report.2
Awards and Recognition
Rachel has received several notable awards for her journalism work:
- Gerald Loeb Award: In 2023, she was recognized for her work on the investigative podcast "In Trust," which tied for first place in the audio category.2
- Landon B. Lane Memorial Scholarship: Awarded by Washington and Lee University Department of Journalism in November 2014.1
- SPJ Mark of Excellence Award: Won first place for general news reporting-newspaper (small school division) in Region 2 of the Society of Professional Journalists' 2014 college journalism competition.1
- Washington and Lee Department of Journalism Award: Received upon graduation in May 2016.1
Notable Work
Rachel's recent work includes the investigative podcast "In Trust," co-produced by Bloomberg and iHeartMedia. The podcast explores the history of the Osage Nation and their struggles with land ownership and mineral rights.2
Rachel Adams-Heard's journalism career demonstrates a strong focus on business and energy reporting, with a growing emphasis on investigative journalism.
Highlights
In September, Naureen S. Malik, Eric Fan and I published a story about how the Texas power market behaved on a key day in June when prices went haywire. A lot of folks we talked to blamed something called ECRS, a new type of backup power Ercot had introduced just 10 days earlier.
Recently, we got a bunch of public records requests back that show Texas officials received early warnings that the way the state was sourcing backup power risked raising prices. You can read that story here:
Last week, I accepted an award from The Gerald Loeb Awards & Foundation on behalf of In Trust, the investigative podcast series we put out in the world this time last year. I can't begin to express how grateful I am that our story was honored in this way, but I would be remiss if I didn't highlight just how many people worked so hard to make it a reality.
So to Davis Land, Allison Herrera, Victor Yvellez, Samantha Storey, Jeffrey Grocott, Dan Ferrara, Shane Brown-Photographer, Laura Ortman, Blake Maples, Molly Nugent, Devon Pendleton, Linly Lin, Margaret Sutherlin, McKinnon de Kuyper, Aeriel Brown, Jaci Kessler Lubliner, Cynthia Hoffman, Steph Davidson, Thomas Houston, Bernadette M Walker-Phillips, Flynn McRoberts, robert blau, Katie Boyce (Rooney), Sage Bauman and Jared Sandberg THANK YOU for helping to bring this story to light. I learned so much from you all and am incredibly grateful to be surrounded by such talented and thoughtful journalists.
And to the many, many folks in the Osage community who opened their doors to us and helped us tell a story about people, not just old documents and dollar signs, thank you for believing in this work. We truly couldn't have done it without you.
If you haven't listened to In Trust, there's still time! And check out our episode notes with graphics, archival documents and more:
