Erika Beras

Reporter

SHORT BIO

Erika Beras is a former reporter at Marketplace. She has covered wealth & poverty, aging and other beats for Marketplace's programs.

Latest Stories (345)

Goldman Sachs to invest billions in Black women

Mar 12, 2021
The firm says it wants to change the lives of "One Million Black Women," but that'll take more than a monetary investment.
Black women have disproportionately suffered during the pandemic, one reason Goldman Sachs decided to provide support.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

Coursera's IPO reflects the demand for online learning

Mar 8, 2021
The firm, a leader in the massive open online course sector, says its enrollment more than doubled last year.
In the early days of the pandemic, traditional universities turned to sites like Coursera for help with online learning.
Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Chipotle and others are putting diversity plans into action

Mar 5, 2021
Chipotle is making executive bonuses contingent on hitting diversity and sustainability targets.
Chipotle's plan also addresses gender and pay equity, and helping existing employees move up in the company.
Jason Redmond/AFP via Getty Images

COVID transformed the sex work industry, but not the laws governing it

Mar 4, 2021
Some argue that legislation passed to prevent online sex trafficking is blocking a range of consensual transactions.
"Sex work was among a kind of array of jobs that are incredibly vulnerable and precarious, like in the gig economy where you’re not protected," said Mireille Miller-Young, a feminist studies professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Pictured: Activists and sex workers participate in a protest in Miami Beach, Florida.
Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images

Health insurance disruptors like Oscar face challenges

Feb 26, 2021
But as more people buy direct-to-consumer health insurance, innovators may find new ways to make money.
A man consults with a doctor on his laptop computer. Some innovators are influencing the medical industry through e-health services.
Geber86 via Getty Images

How are those pandemic learning pods doing?

Feb 25, 2021
The school year is more than half over, and what began as a widespread educational experiment may have legs.
Students follow along remotely at a learning pod in Culver City, California.
Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

For many scientists, the pandemic changed research

Feb 19, 2021
While those researching COVID-19 remained hard at work, others left their labs behind or improvised new methods.
While coronavirus research has boomed, many other kinds of projects have been hindered.
Misha Friedman/Getty Images

Rihanna puts her Fenty fashion "house" on hold

Feb 11, 2021
Fenty is essentially a startup within an established brand that has faced challenges during the pandemic.
Paras Griffin/Getty Images for BET

What a jobs recovery might look like as the pandemic fades

Feb 10, 2021
The low-wage, temp-job economy that emerged after the Great Recession could reemerge, but with changes.
An Instacart shopper at work in a New Jersey market. Some occupations that grew during the pandemic may stick around afterward.
Michael Loccisano/Getty Images

What will Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos do as executive chair?

Feb 3, 2021
He'll be a strategic adviser to the new CEO. And with millions of shares of company stock, he'll have a lot of say in his role.
Jeff Bezos will most likely maintain plenty of power at Amazon. Above, Bezos, left, addresses moderator Charlie Rose and the Economic Club of New York in 2016.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images