Author Archives: Cael Byrne
I was born and raised in Milwaukee, and I am intrinsically connected to the city. My mother works at the Wisconsin Center, and my father works at Hal Leonard Music Publishing which let me grow up with Milwaukee's event and local music scene.
I was also involved in Boy Scouts of America at a young age, and I made it all the way to Eagle Scout. For my Eagle Project, I built 6 benches and 3 shelves for the West Allis Dog Park when it opened in 2019. Former Mayor Dan Devine was very involved in the dog park and my project. When I achieved the rank of Eagle Scout, he drafted an official proclamation.
I have always been interested in writing and research, but I actually began my college career at UW-Milwaukee studying for a degree in Mechanical Engineering. I had taken several PLTW classes in high school, but I realized I was just sticking within my comfort zone. So after my first year, I switched to Journalism.
Since then, I have written for UWM Post and Media Milwaukee combining my interests into stories about local events and historic locations. While writing for Media Milwaukee, I took part in a project called Missing in Milwaukee which investigated the cases of 18 missing people of color in Milwaukee. Media Milwaukee worked directly with Milwaukee Police Department, and was able to read over 1,000 pages in investigation files for every case. Media Milwaukee also interviewed the family and friends of each missing person, and researched social issues that affect missing people.
I became Head Editor of UWM Post from January to August of 2025. Under my leadership, UWM Post launched a weekly newsletter, a daily weather forecast service, and a TikTok on top of the regularly-scheduled stories. The UWM Post also completed a 6-part docuseries called UWM Urban Spelunking which covered historic buildings on The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's campus, museums and other locations that celebrate history, and places that are not normally accessible to the public. This project covers the complete history of 20 buildings including the Milwaukee-Downer College buildings which are the oldest buildings on campus, and includes hundreds of never-before seen historic images from the UWM Archives.
