Fernanda Santos (born 1973) is a Brazilian-American writer,[1] journalism professor[2] and contributing columnist for The Washington Post[3] living in New York.

[11] She joined the faculty of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University on August 16, 2017[12] as a Southwest Borderlands Initiative professor of practice.

She is a board member at the Arizona Latino Media Association[13] and The Sauce Foundation,[14] a 501c(3) created in the memory of her husband to raise money for pancreatic cancer research and journalism scholarships for first-generation college students.

She has penned an essay about the meaning of citizenship[17] for Guernica Magazine and written a column for Mexico's Animal Politico about training journalists in the Mexican border city Ciudad Juárez to report more fairly on the migrant crisis.

In February 2021, she was named a contributing opinions columnist for The Washington Post, to “provide commentary on issues ranging from immigration to Southwest politics and more,” according to the announcement.

One of the movie's main actors, James Badge Dale, who played the role of Captain Jesse Steed, said in interviews that it was Santos' stories that inspired him to join the film.