Experience

Arizona Luminaria, Tucson, AZ

Community resilience reporter, July 2024 to present 

• Cover both breaking news and long-term stories that show the ways people on the ground in Southern Arizona are finding agency and resolutions to systemic problems 

• Broke news stories with local impact including planned public library branch closures eventually cancelled due to public outrage; planned end user of the Project Blue data center in Pima County which helped fuel city of Tucson’s decision to reject the contract; conducted investigations and data analysis into mobile home heat deaths and utility overbilling,  multiple stories cited by Arizona Attorney General in legal actions 

• Pitched and produced a feature length documentary with AZPM on the landscape of manufactured homes in Southern Arizona and the role it plays in affordable housing 

• Won first place for the Public Service Community Impact Award from the Local Media Association for coverage of proposed Pima County data center 

• Appeared regularly on local media television program The Press Room

Freelance journalist, Phoenix, AZ 

September 2023 - June 2024  

• Cover disinformation and voter outreach efforts as part of 2024 U.S. Senate race for AZ Luminaria with a focus on explanatory reporting 

• Wrote a series of profiles of LGBTQ youth in Arizona for the print magazine of LOOKOUT PHX, a nonprofit news site dedicated to LGBTQ+ issues and people in Arizona 

The Arizona Republic, Phoenix, AZ 

K-12 education reporter, June 2021 - September 2023  

• Cover K-12 education, following how policy, funding and COVID-19 impact more than 200 school districts, 500 charter schools and 1.1 million students for Arizona’s largest daily newspaper

• Report weekly breaking news from the Legislature, Department of Education and governor’s office while finding human stories from around the state 

• Watchdog reporting includes coverage of COVID-19 safety for special education students, inequity of how schools received state grants and transparency gaps in the biggest school voucher expansion in the nation  

• Support newsroom in answering questions about education when it intersected with criminal justice, politics or sports beats 

Chalkbeat Chicago, Chicago, IL 

Reporter, October 2018  - May 2021 

• News and enterprise reporting  on the impact of the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic on Chicago schools, including the first school to close, labor unrest over reopening and the impact on vulnerable students 

• Changed district policy on publicizing Local School Council meetings on school police following investigative article on meeting transparency and increased scrutiny on cost of school police contract

• Collaborated on news and investigative projects with media outlets including WBEZ, Block Club Chicago and more, and regularly appeared to discuss coverage on television and public radio 

The Moscow Times, Moscow, Russia 

Reporter and editor, June 2018  - October 2018

• Reported on migration and LGBTQ issues for a special World Cup 2018 print run of the biggest English-language daily newspaper in Russia

• Reviewed Russian-language news media to assign coverage for The Moscow Times audience 

• Edited the work of a Russian-speaking news writer on financial, political and social news coverage in Russia. 

Migratory Notes, remote   

Staff writer and special projects editor, October 2017 – June 2021

• Wrote weekly newsletter synthesizing exceptional immigration journalism and breaking news for highly-informed readership of immigration attorneys, journalists and advocates across the country 

• Manage email lists and oversee newsletter expansion to include training opportunities and resources for immigration journalists

• Providing analysis of immigration media trends for the Columbia Journalism Review, Reveal and Nieman Lab

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

•   Wrote investigative stories on undocumented workers in private detention, reported from the Arab Spring protests in Bahrain and wrote about federal surveillance of the Occupy movement along with occasional breaking news.

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