Why L.A. is such an exciting food town

Defne Karabatur is an audience engagement editor at the Los Angeles Times. She graduated from UC Berkeley, where she studied applied mathematics, English and political economy, and previously was a 2023-24 Times fellow. Karabatur got her start in journalism working for the Daily Californian, Berkeley’s independent, student-run newspaper, where she was the 2022-23 creative director. She grew up in Connecticut and Istanbul. Outside of the newsroom, Karabatur enjoys cooking, taking photos, reading and watching Formula One races.

David Viramontes is an audience engagement editor for Entertainment and Arts. Before coming to the Los Angeles Times, he worked at Variety, the entertainment industry magazine. He graduated from the USC and grew up in Los Angeles.

Mark E. Potts is the senior editor for video at the Los Angeles Times. A native of Enid, Okla., Potts graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a master’s degree in broadcast journalism. He has created and edited video for DreamWorks, YouTube, Microsoft, Sony and BET.