Isabella Gomez Sarmiento
Isabella Gomez Sarmiento is a reporter and producer with NPR’s Culture Desk, where she covers music and pop culture.
Since coming to NPR as a Kroc Fellow in 2019, she’s reported stories about the unionization effort of the Star Garden strippers in Los Angeles, the growing popularity of Spanish-language comedy in the U.S. and the cultural significance of Puerto Rican social clubs in New York City. She’s also profiled artists including Young Miko, Durand Jones and Devendra Banhart.
Gomez Sarmiento is part of the NPR teams that won a 2023 Edward R. Murrow Award for the ongoing coverage of the fall of Roe v. Wade and a 2024 New York Press Club Award for a piece about haptic suits changing the way people experience live music. She graduated from Georgia State University with degrees in journalism, film and gender studies. She previously wrote for outlets including Teen Vogue, Remezcla, Noisey and CNN. Her Teen Vogue feature about undocumented minors in immigration detention centers was recognized by the Juvenile Law Center’s 2018 Leadership Prize. [Copyright 2025 NPR]
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Last week, a federal jury in Manhattan found Combs guilty of two counts of transportation for prostitution while acquitting him on more serious charges of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. -
After 12 hours of deliberation, the jury told Judge Arun Subramanian that it had decided on counts related to sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution but not yet on racketeering. -
On Thursday, the government delivered closing arguments in the sex trafficking trial of Sean Combs. The rapper and executive is accused of coercing multiple women into sexual encounters with male escorts. -
Combs did not take the stand as the case for his defense concluded. In lieu of witnesses, his team built on previous cross-examination to claim that his relationships were consensual and not coercive. -
The meandering trial of the hip-hop mogul can be difficult to parse. Here's a broad overview of the charges and the case the government has presented to the jury. -
For weeks, federal prosecutors have laid out their case against Sean Combs in a Manhattan courtroom. His attorneys should begin presenting their defense on Tuesday. They aren't expected to take long. -
Judge Arun Subramanian said that the juror's conflicting statements about which state he currently resides in may have been an attempt to get on and stay on the federal trial of the hip-hop mogul. -
The woman who dated Combs until his arrest described the relationship in complex terms — traumatic but sometimes loving — and seemed to be working through her feelings about it on the witness stand. -
The woman, who dated Combs, testified that she repeatedly told him she did not want to participate in the drug-fueled encounters with escorts he requested, but felt pressured to comply. -
On Thursday, a woman identified as "Jane" testified that Combs, who she says she dated until he was arrested in 2024, the hip-hop mogul pressured her into sexual encounters with male escorts.
