Joel P. Engardio has written for  Washington Post.com, USA Today, the San Francisco Weekly, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe,

New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Christian Science Monitor and P.O.V. magazine.

In radio, he has written essays broadcast on KQED San Francisco and the NPR series This I Believe.

In television, Engardio was a production associate for ABC News 20/20 and the network's documentary unit, Turning Point.

Engardio wrote, narrated and directed KNOCKING, a documentary on Jehovah’s Witnesses that was nationally broadcast on the PBS series Independent Lens in 2007. It was named Best Documentary at the 2006 USA Film Festival.

In public relations, Engardio worked as a senior media strategist for Manning Selvage & Lee. He also organized a national outreach campaign for his PBS documentary and consulted for Stanford University’s Jade Ribbon Campaign.

For the American Civil Liberties Union, Engardio helped communicate issues by producing online videos. He also used reporting methods to find plaintiffs with compelling stories.

He graduated from Michigan State University, majoring in journalism and history. Engardio was born and raised in Saginaw, Michigan. He lives in San Francisco.