I am an award-winning investigative journalist at the forefront of multi-platform storytelling on topics ranging from immigration to criminal justice and international social justice movements, with a proven ability to build community and social media strategy around the unique needs of an organization or project.

Experience

Investigative journalist and mentor, City Bureau - Chicago, IL, September 2015 to present

  • Publish long-form investigations on policing in Chicago in The Guardian and Chicago Reader

  • Awarded a Sidney Hillman Award for investigation into the police union for the Chicago Reader

  • Teach classes of young reporters as part of a project working on reimagining community reporting

Journalism producer, Scrappers Film Group – Chicago, IL, September 2014 to present

  • ·       Directed, scripted and produced feature videos, most recently a 5-minute mini-documentary for Fusion.net
  •      Secure funding for Rights Lab web series through prestigious Chicago Digital Media Fund Grant

Convicted in Cook, collaboration with the Chicago Community Trust and FreeGeek Chicago – Chicago, IL, June 2014 to December 2014

  • ·       Reporter and editor for a data website investigating five years of conviction data in Cook County Criminal Court

Freelancer, Various Publications

  •    National: Al Jazeera America; In These Times; DemocracyNow!; Campus Progress; Inter Press Service; AlterNet; American Independent
  •  Chicago: Tribune Company’s RedEye; The Daily Whale; AREA Chicago; Northwestern TriQuarterly; Gapers Block

The Chicago Reporter – Chicago, IL, January 2012 to January 2014, Blogger/Reporter

  •  Lead blogger for an investigative magazine focused on race and poverty. Used shoe-leather reporting, FOIA requests and data analysis to cover housing, politics and immigration. Helped produce weekly radio show and appeared on local television and radio programs including Chicago's WBEZ radio and WTTW television’s Chicago Tonight
  •   Single-handedly crafted the Reporter's social media presence, tripling Twitter followers in a period of 18 months.

Truthout.org - Chicago, IL, October 2009 to April 2013, Assistant Editor/Reporter, Fellow, Intern

Wide Angle, PBS – New York City, June 2009 to September 2009, Production intern

  • Duties included script research, fact-checking, writing episode synopsis, pre-interviews, outreach, assisting in planning and running production shoots, and with budgets and distribution

Education

  •  Northwestern University, Medill School of Journalism, Evanston, Ill.

Master of Science in Journalism, December 2009

  •     University of Durham, Durham, England

Bachelor of Arts, Sociology and Politics, June 2008

Awards and Fellowships:

  •   Investigative fellow on campaign finance for the American Independent, Sep.-Dec. 2011
  •    Finalist for a Lisagor prize for best individual blog post in 2012; winner with Chicago Reporter staff for 2013 Lisagor and City Bureau for 2016 Lisagor
  •   Winning team in the Chicago 2013 Migrahack event for the production of Finding Care in June 2013
  • Chosen for McGraw Hill Financial Journalism Fellowship in September 2013
  •  Chosen for Immigration in the Heartland Fellowship with the Institute for Justice & Journalism in April 2014
  • Storytelling award at Al Jazeera’s Media in Context hackathon held in Doha, Qatar in November 2014
  • Trainer at the Data for Change conference in Beirut, Lebanon in November, 2015
  • Winner of a March 2016 Sidney Hillman award for Investigative Reporting

Language skills:

  • Fluent in English and Russian, with a working knowledge of Dutch and Spanish

Computer skills:

  •  Microsoft Excel, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere, Premiere Elements, FinalCut Pro, Audacity, LexisNexis ,Tableau Software, Power Point, Drupal, and basic knowledge of HTML and SQL