Janelle O’Dea is an embedded investigative reporter with the Illinois Answers Project. Before joining the newsroom, she worked at the Center for Public Integrity and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. She is a graduate of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and grew up in Mahomet, a town located about 20 minutes from the UIUC campus. Outside of work, she enjoys gardening and exploring new cities.