Teri Sforza
Teri Sforza is an author, documentary filmmaker, investigative journalist, watchdog columnist, etc., etc., who was the lead reporter on the Orange County Register/Southern 911³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏÃâ·Ñ¹Û¿´Èë¿ÚNews Group's ongoing probe of fraud, abuse and death in Southern California's addiction treatment industry.
Our "Rehab Riviera" coverage won first place for investigative reporting from the 911³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏÃâ·Ñ¹Û¿´Èë¿ÚNewspaper Publishers Association, first place for projects reporting from Best of the West and was a finalist for the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation's print award in 2018. It has changed laws and, we fervently hope, saved lives.
Sforza was named best columnist by Best of the West in 2025, and was the OC Press Club's 2024 journalist of the year and best columnist as well.
Sforza birthed the Watchdog column for the OCRegister in 2008, aiming to keep a critical (but good-humored) eye on governments and nonprofits, large and small. It won first place for public service reporting from the CPNA in 2010. She also contributed to the OCR's Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation of fertility fraud at UC Irvine and covered what was then the largest municipal bankruptcy in America‘s history.
She's the author of "The Strangest Song," the first book to tell the story of a genetic condition called Williams syndrome and the extraordinary musicality of many of the people who have it. Oliver Sacks, MD, said: “Gloria Lenhoff's story - of living with a rare congenital disorder and enormous musical talent - is extraordinary, like Williams syndrome itself. The Strangest Song is a marvelous achievement, beautifully and compellingly written by Teri Sforza, who interweaves Gloria's poignant and dramatic personal story with a fascinating history of the scientific investigation of a puzzling brain condition." With UC Irvine professor Howard Lenhoff and wife Sylvia.
Sforza earned her M.F.A. from UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television, and enjoys making documentaries, including "The Boy Monk" and "American Pie: Slices of Life (and pie) on America's Back Roads." " Pie" won the Audience Choice Award at the Palm Springs International Short Film Festival. "The Boy Monk" was featured in the Vietnamese Film Festival and broadcast on public television.
Sforza was named best columnist by Best of the West in 2025, and was the OC Press Club's 2024 journalist of the year and best columnist as well.
Sforza birthed the Watchdog column for the OCRegister in 2008, aiming to keep a critical (but good-humored) eye on governments and nonprofits, large and small. It won first place for public service reporting from the CPNA in 2010. She also contributed to the OCR's Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation of fertility fraud at UC Irvine and covered what was then the largest municipal bankruptcy in America‘s history.
She's the author of "The Strangest Song," the first book to tell the story of a genetic condition called Williams syndrome and the extraordinary musicality of many of the people who have it. Oliver Sacks, MD, said: “Gloria Lenhoff's story - of living with a rare congenital disorder and enormous musical talent - is extraordinary, like Williams syndrome itself. The Strangest Song is a marvelous achievement, beautifully and compellingly written by Teri Sforza, who interweaves Gloria's poignant and dramatic personal story with a fascinating history of the scientific investigation of a puzzling brain condition." With UC Irvine professor Howard Lenhoff and wife Sylvia.
Sforza earned her M.F.A. from UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television, and enjoys making documentaries, including "The Boy Monk" and "American Pie: Slices of Life (and pie) on America's Back Roads." " Pie" won the Audience Choice Award at the Palm Springs International Short Film Festival. "The Boy Monk" was featured in the Vietnamese Film Festival and broadcast on public television.
Her journalism career started at the Hammond Daily Star across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans, where she covered education in one of the poorest states; then to the Santa Barbara News Press, where she covered arts, music and theater in one of the nation's richest counties (during the paper's glory days when it was owned by the New York Times); followed the editor to the San Diego Union, again covering education, before the paper merged with the Tribune; then took the merger buyout and traveled all over the world before landing at the . Journalism is a magic carpet ride. It can show you the world.
