Rachel Aretakis is the state and solutions editor. Before joining the Illinois Answers Project, Rachel was an editor at USA TODAY, first as a breaking news editor in Washington, D.C., and then as the health editor based in Chicago. Rachel was also an editor at Louisville Courier-Journal in Kentucky, working in both breaking news and digital audience. She started her career as a business reporter.

Rachel grew up in metro Detroit and Louisville. She studied journalism at the University of Kentucky, where she is currently working on an MBA.