Student Profiles

Marian Amaria Bangura is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and International Relations Program. Hailing from Sierra Leone, she is a versatile multimedia journalist with experience as a freelance foreign investigative reporter and a part-time fact-checker. Marian’s professional background includes valuable contributions to the United Nations Development Programme’s iVerify fact-checking hub. Driven by a deep-seated passion for storytelling, Marian’s journalistic pursuits are fueled by a keen interest in international politics, human rights, and accountability reporting. She views storytelling as an art form that has the power to inspire positive change within communities through the dissemination of information. Marian earned her Bachelor of Arts with honors degree in Mass Communications from Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone. A recipient of the prestigious Vickie Remoe Prize award for excellence in journalism in both 2023 and 2024, Marian’s talent and dedication have been recognized within the journalistic community in Sierra Leone. Colleagues commend her for her confidence and ability to excel in fast-paced, high-energy environments, consistently delivering exceptional results. Enrolled at NYU, Marian is eager to enhance her journalistic skills and broaden her expertise in global reporting, with a particular focus on covering politics and policy. Her aspirations include reporting on elections, economy, government affairs, and legislative developments, aiming to contribute meaningfully to the field of journalism.

Carmen Valeria Escobar is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and Latin American and Caribbean Studies program.

Kirill Guskov is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and Russian and Slavic Studies program.

Jasmine Khelil is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and Near Eastern Studies Program as a Fulbright grantee. She graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 2024, capturing new insights on the Lebanese Civil War through oral testimonies. She has previously worked in Tunisia and Lebanon for the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center as well as the American University of Beirut, where she has written articles on the war on Gaza as well as Tunisia’s aftermath of the Arab Spring. Jasmine worked for Leviathan Journal as the Middle East Editor for two years, engaging with authors to formulate their ideas in the most efficient way. Jasmine is interested in reporting on conflicts, investigative reporting, as well as documentary filmmaking.

Blaise Malley is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and International Relations Program. From 2022 to 2024, he worked as a reporter at Responsible Statecraft, the online magazine published by the Quincy Institute, covering the intersection of U.S. domestic politics and foreign policy. He has also written for The New Republic, The American Prospect, the American Conservative, and various other publications. Blaise graduated from Claremont McKenna College in 2020 with a B.A. in government.

Pau Torres Pagès is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and International Relations Program as a ‘La Caixa’ Fellow. Born in Barcelona, he graduated from University Pompeu Fabra in 2022 with a BA in Journalism, receiving an ‘Excellent’ distinction. He has experience as a radio, print, and online journalist. Taking his first professional steps at Diari de Barcelona, he published over a hundred articles and was a special on-site correspondent at COP26. He moved on to be a reporter at the Spanish National Radio (RTVE) focusing on global issues such as environment, disinformation, and LGBTQIA+ rights. As a freelancer, he has fact-checked European and Catalan elections, published investigative data features, and focused on cultural criticism and reporting, including coverage of the Cannes Film Festival. Additionally, he has experience in international organizations, having spent stints at both the European Parliament and the United Nations Development Programme. Also interested in academia, he has been a Research Assistant at University Pompeu Fabra and University Ramon Llull. Amazed by NYC, he keeps an excited open mind for the future ahead.

Abdulrahman Zeyad is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism & Near Eastern Studies Program. Originally from Iraq, he holds a B.A. in Dentistry. However, after the 2019 Tishreen protests in Baghdad, he embarked on an unexpected journey into journalism, driven by his passion for writing, research, and photography. For four years, Abdulrahman reported for the Associated Press in Baghdad, covering key areas like policy, security, economy, oil, health, and the environment. Alongside his journalism work, he has also contributed as a researcher with the Century International Foundation, focusing on militia-induced demographic changes in Iraq and the broader Middle East.

Veena Ali-Khan spent the past few years as a Yemen Researcher for the International Crisis Group, based in Istanbul. She worked alongside the Senior Analyst for Yemen in conducting extensive research into prevailing issues in Yemen. During this role, Veena travelled across the Middle East, interviewing the warring factions involved in the conflict, and their regional backers. Over the past six years, she has worked across the region, including time in Beirut, Tehran, Cairo and Amman.

Catherine Cartier is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism & Near Eastern Studies program. She earned her B.A. in Arab Studies and History at Davidson College in 2020. As an undergraduate student, Catherine studied in and reported from Lebanon, Tajikistan, Morocco, and Jordan. In 2019, she was named a Beyond Religion fellow by the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting and Michigan’s Truman Scholar. After graduating, Catherine held a Fulbright grant in Morocco, researching poetry written in Moroccan Arabic. She then worked an Investigative Analyst in Washington DC, where she focused on the intersection of conflict and economic justice. Her reporting has appeared in The Guardian, Al-Monitor, The New Arab & Middle East Eye, among others. As a journalist, Catherine aims to bring a human-centered lens to investigative reporting focused on the Southwest Asia & North Africa.

Clare Francis is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and Near Eastern Studies Program. Originally from Australia, she graduated First Class with Distinction from the University of Cambridge with a B.A. (Hons) in Politics and International Relations in 2020. From 2022-23, she was awarded a Trinity College Graduate Studentship and returned to Cambridge to complete an MPhil in Politics and International Studies. Her master’s thesis examined the influence of legal institutions on public mourning of the deaths of asylum seekers in Australia and the United Kingdom. While studying, she served as a panelist on Declarations: The Human Rights Podcast, producing an episode on Iran’s women-led protest movement. Between her undergraduate and postgraduate studies, Clare returned to Australia and was selected for the graduate program of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, equivalent to the U.S. State Department. She also worked in the Office of the Attorney-General and Minister for Women, Queensland State Government, and volunteered for several local political campaigns. Her experience in foreign affairs and public policy, including a short-term diplomatic posting to the United Arab Emirates, led her to pursue journalism at NYU. She is particularly interested in human rights, governance and corruption, and political philosophy. In her free time, Clare enjoys hiking and café-hopping.

Viktoria Ivanova is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and International Relations Program at NYU. She holds a BA with a double-major in Journalism and Mass Communication and Political Science and International Relations, combined with a minor in History, from the American University in Bulgaria (AUBG). She has written a senior thesis on the topic of Extralegal tools for coopting the media: a study of the Bulgarian media environment, where she unveiled some of the leading obstacles to media freedom in her country. She has also published pieces analyzing how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the experience of Bulgarian university students. As an undergraduate, she was the Editor-in-Chief and later, President, of her university newspaper, AUBG Daily. This experience truly helped hone her journalistic skills beyond what was being taught in the classroom. At NYU, she hopes to explore complex topics of international value and produce pieces that are both in-depth, yet accessible to a wider audience.

Nicole Monette is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and European & Mediterranean Studies program. She graduated in 2020 from the University of Minnesota with a B.A. in History, focusing on 20th-century Europe, and a minor in Spanish, spending a semester in Madrid. She also began studying French, writing her major thesis on the 1968 student protests in France and spending an additional semester abroad in Paris. In May 2022 she graduated with a Master of Science in Global Affairs from the School of Professional Studies at NYU, where she completed her thesis on possible scenarios for the trajectory of the war in Ukraine. During the fall 2021 semester she was a member of a student consulting project in conjunction with the UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee constructing plausible scenarios for the future of Afghanistan following the U.S. withdrawal in August. As a second year master’s student she was the Managing Editor and Social Media Editor for Global Affairs Review, the student journal of NYU’s Center for Global Affairs. Most recently she spent eight months in Rome and Milan studying Italian at an intensive language school.

Suha Musa is enrolled in the Global Journalism and International Relations program. She is a 2022 graduate from the University of New Mexico with majors in International Studies and Political Science with a minor in History. Her senior capstone One Refugee, Two Refugee, Good Refugee, Bad Refugee: How SWANA Media Representation Impacts Refugee Policy in the West dissected how media subtleties have been used as a weapon of bias in Western politics. As a dual Sudanese-American national, the project was born out of a lifetime of experience consuming Western media, and was awarded as a top 10 presentation at UNM’s Undergraduate Research Conference. After graduating, Suha worked as the New Mexico State Ethics Commission’s Communications Manager, navigating key relationships with media, government officials and the general public. At NYU, Suha is eager to incorporate her lifelong love of comedy as a tool of accessibility and education in reporting on current events.

Verena Podolskaia is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and Russian & Slavic Studies Program. She grew up in Saint Petersburg, Russia, where she studied Psychology. As a student, she worked at NGOs that supported adults with mental health disabilities in Russia and interned at a campus for refugees in Germany. While studying in Russia, she founded an international student lifestyle magazine called The Swings, with the aim of discussing the concerns of the younger generation regardless of their backgrounds. Later, she studied Comparative Sociology in Moscow and worked on various independent social research projects related to human rights violations in Russia. Since February 2022, she has has lived in Armenia and Germany, working as a freelance journalist. She recently completed an internship at the European Center for Press and Media Freedom in Leipzig, where she supported and interviewed journalists in exile. Currently, she is dedicated to learning more about media and Slavic studies to be able to apply her social research skills and understanding of psychology in investigative journalism and propaganda analysis, with the hope of bringing about change in the region of her origin and studies.

Natalia Salazar is enrolled in the Global Journalism and Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program. She earned her undergraduate degree from Purdue University Northwest, where she was able to spend a semester studying in Barcelona Spain and working as an intern at Talent Garden, a co-working space. She recently graduated from Northwestern’s Medill Program and received her master’s in investigative journalism. She is continuing the reporting she began at Northwestern as a freelancer with El Centro de Periodismo Investigativo in Puerto Rico covering a story about mental health. Her research interests vary but are all tied to the idea that American capitalism is dependent on anti-black racism. She is originally from South Chicago, but is excited to explore her new neighborhood, Harlem. When she is not at school she works as a server at Principe in SoHo.

Aisha Arain is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and Near Eastern Studies Program.

Carmela Guaglianone is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and International Relations Program. She is what some call curious and others call nosey. She likes to learn, but writes instead. Sometimes, on lucky days, she gets to do both. She’s from Arizona, which everyone will tell you is hot, but no one will mention is also dusty. It is, however, a dry heat. She attended university in North Carolina, where she studied such a hodgepodge of things that her diploma read with the all grace of a terms and conditions agreement: Linguistics, Decision Sciences, and International Comparative Studies, with a concentration in Europe. She retreated west after graduation, spending some time innovating at a start-up in San Francisco, then realizing shortly after that there wasn’t enough of an appetite for word-play in the tech industry to keep her ticking. She returned to type at The San Francisco Examiner, where she currently works with the digital team.

Tristan Finazzo is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and East Asian Studies Program. He studied at Beijing University before matriculating at the University of Chicago, where he earned a B.A. in Global Studies in 2019 and completed a thesis on the Chinese Dream campaign. As an undergraduate student, Tristan served as an intern for the North Korea Strategy Center in Seoul, collecting and translating accounts of human rights violations through interviews with North Korean defectors. Since graduating, he has worked as a translator and regional specialist for the RAND Corporation, publishing research reports on military strategy and geopolitics in the Asia-Pacific region. As a journalist focused on East Asia, he hopes to connect his passions for art, exploration, and translation, unearthing stories that transcend the barrier of language and cut across narratives of antagonism. He strives to maintain a working proficiency in Chinese and Korean and spends his remaining free time engaged in singing, hiking, travel writing, and pretending to be knowledgeable about astrophysics.

Raza Gillani is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and Near Eastern Studies Program.He is a journalist from Pakistan and holds a bachelors degree in Political Science from Government College Lahore. Raza has been a frontline student organizer and a co-founder of the Progressive Students Collective and the Haqooq-e-Khalq Movement. He was a core member of the student group that orchestrated Student’s Solidarity Marches in more than fifty cities in Pakistan in 2019, the country’s largest student-led demonstrations since 1968. Raza has worked as an investigative reporter and served in the Board of Directors at Lok Sujag, a Pakistani media organization devoted to the coverage of voices from outside the margins of power. He has reported on issues pertaining to governance and institutional malpractice, worker’s rights and exploitation, the juvenile justice system, real estate and land grabbing, and grassroots political movements in Pakistan. Raza holds an ambition to work for the resurgence of investigative fact-based journalism in Pakistan, built on an unwavering commitment to reject all patronage of the state and capital, and an aspiration to uncover stories of marginalized and dispossessed communities in Pakistan and its administered/occupied territories. Razi is a MacCracken fellow at NYU’s Hagop Kevorkian Center.

Darsen Hover is enrolled in the Global Journalism and International Relations Program. She graduated from CUNY Hunter College with a B.A. in Political Science and Human Rights in 2018, where she wrote her undergraduate thesis on indigenous land rights movements in India. After graduating, she continued in this line of study as an intern at the Keystone Foundation in Tamil Nadu, India, where she conducted firsthand research into the barriers to the successful implementation of indigenous land rights law in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. She then continued to explore issues relating to land and resource politics as a Fulbright Student Research Scholar in Budapest, Hungary where she focused on the relationship between corruption within Hungary’s agricultural economy and the degradation of the country’s democratic institutions. After returning to the United States she began working on political campaigns, on a Senate race in Alaska, and more recently as a communications consultant in New York and New Jersey. New to journalism, Darsen hopes to return to international work through her studies at NYU. She will continue her focus on land and resource politics, as well as pursue stories covering democracy movements and amplifying the work of those on the front lines in the fight against rising global authoritarianism. Aside from her professional work, Darsen is also a contemporary dancer and an amateur but very enthusiastic home cook.

Alfredo Eladio Moreno is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and Latin American & Caribbean Studies Program. In May 2022, he graduated from Pomona College with a BA in Latin American Studies. His senior exercise Under the Gaze of Two Eagles: In Pursuit of Mexicanidad Outside of Mexico explored Mexicanidad—a sense of connection to Mexico—in the United States through his own experience. The project received distinction from the Latin American Studies Department. It consists of an analytical and expressive portion, the latter being a short story. Overall, the project lays the foundation for critical studies in immigration and binationality. For two summers, Alfredo worked with Latina Republic to publish a series of articles interviewing social changemakers in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Colombia and Puerto Rico. Additionally, he has self-published articles and videos that explore Mexican-American identity and his hometown of Houston, Texas. What ultimately drives Alfredo’s work is his commitment to bearing witness and to the written word.

Fiona Murphy is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and French Studies Program. She is a Colorado native who, before moving to New York City, worked as the assistant editor at 5280 Magazine in Denver where she produced primarily multimedia content. Fiona graduated in 2020 from the University of Missouri School of Journalism where she focused on multimedia storytelling and minored in French language. She has since worked in France and Belgium reporting on topics such as Brexit, antitrust, and immigration in the European Union for a regulatory newswire. After college, Fiona moved to Gif-sur-Yvette in France to work as a language assistant with TAPIF. Last summer, she worked as a production apprentice for the Telluride Film Festival in Telluride, Colorado. Fiona is passionate about film and poetry. At NYU, she hopes to focus her research on immigration from the Maghreb to France.

Kiana Paclibon is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and Latin American & Caribbean Studies Program. Born in the Philippines and raised in the U.S., Kiana graduated from Loyola Marymount University in 2018 with a B.A. in International Relations and a B.A. in Psychology. At LMU, she engaged in Community-Based Participatory Research projects and immersive experiences in Downtown LA, Europe, and Latin America that sparked awe for listening to others tell their story. She went on to live in Argentina where she worked as a study abroad coordinator, English teacher, content creator, and translator—all of which confirmed her passion for written and spoken communication. She is interested in how intersections of race, gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and more shape lived experiences. At NYU, Kiana looks to transform her love of soaking up human narratives into the ability to produce global stories that illuminate human connection and generate empathy.

Tehsin Pala is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and International Relations Program. She pursued her Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication, during which the increasing political turmoil and oppression of minorities in her country perturbed her, as a minority herself. This motivated her to write to bring truth to power. It helped her realize that her true calling lies in journalism because it enables her to effectively engage with all strata of society. An intersectional feminist, she earned a Post-graduate Diploma in Women’s and Gender Studies after her Bachelor’s degree. While studying, she interned with The People’s Archive of Rural India, where she documented the art of the ‘Rathwa’ tribe in remote areas of Gujarat. She has also worked with NGOs like Saukhyam Reusable Pads and Zidni Ilma Charitable Trust and has freelanced with LiveWire and Smashboard. She aims to highlight human rights violations, especially against women, through her work in the future.

Kathryn Palmer is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and French Studies Program. She holds a bachelor’s degree in politics from UC Santa Cruz — specializing in political theory and international politics — and an undergraduate minor in journalism from UC Berkeley. She spent a semester studying French politics and history at Sciences Po Paris, and returned to live and work in the vibrant capital as an English language assistant and freelance editor last year. Born and raised in Sacramento, California, she has been working as a journalist since starting her career in 2017 with NPR member station Capital Public Radio. In the years since, she has focused on local newspaper reporting, most recently working for the Petaluma Argus-Courier and The Press Democrat in Sonoma County. Her work has been recognized with 5 CNPA California Journalism Awards and an Eddie Award for Magazine News Coverage. She speaks French and is learning German.

Marin Scotten is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and International Relations Program. She studied at Toronto Metropolitan University where she graduated with a B.A. in Journalism in 2021. As an undergraduate, she worked as a reporter and photographer for both The Eyeopener and On the Record – both on-campus publications – and reported on a variety of social issues including the housing crisis, food security and mental health. Upon graduating, Marin worked as a reporter for the St. Catharines Standard, where she covered local news across Southern Ontario. Most recently, she worked for JourneyWoman, a small magazine promoting women’s solo travel and has also completed a post-graduate certificate in food security. She is very interested in the global food system and how it intersects with gender, class, race and environmental issues. Through various forms of storytelling, Marin hopes to document the human side of complex issues and challenge the stereotypes historically portrayed in traditional media.

Ailia Zehra is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and Near Eastern Studies Program. She is a journalist from Pakistan who has served as the Managing Editor of Friday Times-Naya Daur Media, having previously worked at different media outlets. She has reported and written extensively on the rise of authoritarianism in Pakistan, religious extremism, and human rights issues among other subjects. She has also interviewed ministers, policymakers, lawmakers and rights activists from Pakistan and abroad in addition to holding panel discussions on the aforementioned subjects. As an editor, Ailia made it a point to commission articles and reports on issues which are least discussed or ignored by Pakistan’s mainstream media — such as persecution of religious minorities, misuse of blasphemy laws and enforced disappearances. She also launched campaigns through her platform to promote constitutional awareness as well as critical thinking about Pakistan’s political history, which is often distorted by the powers-that-be to peddle a certain narrative. She also occasionally appears on television talk shows to discuss social issues. Ailia is a 2022 Falak Sufi scholar at NYU, where she hopes to study the factors contributing to the rise of fascism around the world and the various ways in which journalists operating under repressive governments are fighting back. She also intends to conduct research on the rise of multimedia journalism and how rigorous standards can be instituted into digital media expressions.

Jane Zhang is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and International Relations Program. She was raised in Madison, Wisconsin and graduated from Yale-NUS College in Singapore in 2018 with a B.A. with Honors in Anthropology. As an undergraduate, she interned with HealthServe, a Singaporean NGO providing medical care and casework support to low-wage migrant workers. Jane spent her semester abroad in Tucson, Arizona on the Border Studies Program, studying issues such as neoliberalism, border militarization, and grassroots activism on the U.S.-Mexico border. Jane has been working in journalism since 2019, when she joined Mothership.sg, Singapore’s leading digital-first news platform. As a Senior Writer, Jane was dedicated to telling stories that shed light on social issues, with a particular interest in migration-related stories. As a journalist, Jane hopes to produce longform work that explores the intersections of social issues like race, immigration, gender, and class, and to center marginalized voices in order to have a direct impact on policy decisions. In her free time, Jane enjoys rock climbing and figure skating, playing board games, and finding great deals.

Lillian Avedian is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and Near Eastern Studies Program. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a B.A. in Peace and Conflict Studies, with a concentration in International Human Rights, and a B.A. in Armenian Language and Literature. Since graduating in the spring of 2020, she has worked as a news writer for the historic Armenian Weekly newspaper, providing in-depth coverage of human rights issues in conflict and post-conflict settings and geopolitical developments in the South Caucasus. Lillian is passionate about telling the stories of her diverse and complex global Armenian community and uplifting the narratives of women and LGBTQ+ people from Southwest Asia. As an undergraduate, she interned at Hetq, Armenia\’s preeminent investigative newspaper based in Yerevan, and Voice of America in Washington, D.C. She also spent a semester in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Santiago, Chile studying human rights and cultural memory. In addition to pursuing human rights journalism, Lillian is an avid feminist poet and published her first poetry collection Journey to Tatev in the spring of 2021 with Girls on Key Press.

Emma Burleigh is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and East Asian Studies Program. She graduated from The College of William & Mary with a B.A. in International Relations and Chinese in 2021. During her four years, Emma studied abroad at Beijing Normal University, served as the Chinese major peer advisor, was awarded the APIA-AMES Freeman Fellowship award, and defended her thesis investigating how preconceived notions of China influence the longevity of U.S. Confucius Institutes. These experiences strengthened her interest in exploring Chinese and world affairs. Her curiosity with the region began in the seventh grade when she started learning Mandarin; after ten years of practice, Emma maintains her advanced proficiency in the language. As a journalist, she seeks to inform audiences on Chinese affairs in a more approachable and open-minded way. Most of her free time is spent cooking, reading, roller-blading, and exploring sites her city has to offer.

Julianne Chandler is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and Latin American & Caribbean Studies Program. She is a feminist writer, educator and storyteller based in Cochabamba, Bolivia. She earned an undergraduate degree in Anthropology and Latin American Studies from NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, and a M.A. in Poverty and Development from the Institute of Development Studies in England. Raised in Colorado, Julianne was fortunate to develop a close connection to Latin American cultures and communities from a young age, and has dedicated her life to learning from movements for justice, truth, and liberation across the diverse tapestry of the Andes. Based in Bolivia since 2009, Julianne has spent the past decade leading and overseeing experiential education programs for youth from Guatemala to Patagonia. Inspired by the spectacular people and places she has come to know, she is eager to refocus her attention on documenting the multifaceted stories around her. Julianne is moving to New York with her husband and two bicultural daughters.

Andrés Guerrero is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and Latin American & Caribbean Studies Program. He is a photojournalist and artist from Bogotá, Colombia. He has ten years of experience as a U.S. Air Force imagery analyst – and more recently, he interned at Lima Charlie News and Sports Illustrated. Andrés completed his undergraduate degree in photography at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. His undergraduate thesis project, Huellas en la Frontera, 2020, is included in the Tisch School of the Arts Senior Show One 2021 exhibition at New York University, New York. The work obtained the Thomas Drysdale Production Fund Award in the Department of Photography & Imaging at Tisch. Andrés body of work looks at diversity in coastal regions, migration, family, community, the environment, surfing, foreign policy, military veterans, human rights, and politics through a socially conscious artistic practice.

Jawad Hossain is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and International Relations Program. He graduated from Stony Brook University in 2020 with a B.A. in Journalism and Political Science. As an undergraduate, Jawad wrote for his school online weekly, The Osprey, covering news and events of the broader Long Island community. He interned at Unbased Media in the summer of 2019, where he wrote for and produced a video series highlighting the proposed policies of each candidate participating in the Democratic presidential primary debates. He found his interest in journalism at a young age, and his interest has grown from experiences in the professional world. He looks forward to writing long-form pieces about women’s and girls’ rights violations, freedom of expression violations, and lack of accountability from the government, in Bangladesh. He studies French and Bengali. Jawad is an avid fan of basketball and football and enjoys playing tennis in his free time. He enjoys spending time with his family and friends and visiting zoos.

Yara Hattab is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and Near Eastern Studies Program.

Rui Johnson Petri is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and International Relations Program. She was raised in Stockholm, Sweden and graduated from Lund University with an LL.M in international human rights law. As a student, she worked at several university newspapers and clerked at the Migration Court in Stockholm. She has also completed an internship at the Permanent Mission of Sweden to the UN. Following her graduation, Rui interned at Human Rights Watch and later joined the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth where she worked with the Europe 2020 strategy. As a burgeoning journalist, Rui hopes to bring her different worlds together — law, human rights, and investigative research – to help hold states accountable by investigating or exposing stories of rights violations worldwide. She is also passionate about art and looks forward to exploring the creative scene in New York City.

Kylie Kirschner is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and International Relations Program.

Alex Li is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and East Asian Studies Program.

Mingmei Li is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and International Relations Program. She was born and raised in Beijing, China, and graduated from the University of Florida with a B.S. in Journalism in 2021. In elementary school, she developed an interest and passion in storytelling and photography and decided to be a reporter. She is also passionate about working with social justice issues and helping to protect the rights of minority groups. She works as a photojournalist at the Alligator, the largest student-run newspaper, covering local news and feature stories in Gainesville, Fla. She also worked as a staff photojournalist for Fresh Take Florida, a news agency covering Florida legislation under WUFT. Her dream job is to become a war and conflict photojournalist. She wants to tell real stories and record every moment in life. She is now a rescue diver, and she is planning to get her underwater photography certificate and become an adventurer. Her Shiba Inu dog\’s name is Syrup, and they are looking forward to New York life!

Yadira Lopez is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and French Studies Program. She graduated from New College of Florida in 2016 with a B.A. in French and Spanish. Yadira began her career as a reporter at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune before moving to work for the Teaching Assistant Program in France. She jumped back into journalism as a Report for America corps member covering Latino affairs at the Malheur Enterprise in rural Oregon and most recently as an economic mobility reporter for the business desk at the Miami Herald. She was born in Cuba and grew up in Miami.

Khalea Robertson is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program. She graduated from the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England in 2019 with a B.A. in Spanish with International Development Studies. Khalea’s studies also took her to Montevideo and Mexico City, where she interned at a community development organization. She returned home to Trinidad and Tobago in 2019 and worked in International Relations while figuring out what she wanted to do with her life. Looking around, she saw a country grappling with the changing dynamics of migration in the region and its enlarged role as a host community. Intrigued by the popular discourse surrounding the new profile of immigrants in her country, Khalea aspires to use journalism to broaden discussions on questions of cross-cultural interactions, migration and development, particularly in places where the English-speaking Caribbean and Latin America meet. Outside of academia, she keenly follows English Premier League football and is an amateur (and extremely rusty) pianist, choral singer and steelpan player.

Mandy Taheri graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in Ethnicity, Race, and Migration. After graduation, she interned for an international women’s rights organization that was founded by former Iranian Minister for Women’s Affairs, Mahnaz Afkhami, and the Middle East Institute. Prior to graduate school, she worked as a political researcher at National Journal. She is currently Iranian American author, Azar Nafisi’s, assistant and social media manager. Over the summer, she was an editorial intern for People Magazine.

Gabriela Del Valle is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program.

Harrison Kass is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and International Relations Program. He holds a J.D. from the University of Oregon School of Law, where he played ice hockey, and a B.A. in History from Lake Forest College. Harrison joined the US Air Force as a pilot but was medically discharged. He is an editor and writer at the New York Transatlantic, covering European affairs, and a contributor at The Debrief, covering aerospace and defense. Harrison was born in New York City and raised in Newtown, CT, but has lived in ten states, plus New Zealand. An electric guitarist, he aspires to lead an eighties renaissance.

Manal Khan is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and Near Eastern Studies Program. She has been drawn to the mediums of the message since her first job at an advertising firm that would capitalize on human adversity every day. Manal did her Bachelors in Media Studies from Karachi, a city of character and the undisputed food capital of Pakistan. She has been a Caravan Magazine fellow for the Narrative Journalism Bootcamp of 2020, and a She Decides advocate for bodily autonomy from Pakistan. Her short film on menstrual awareness has also been screened in the Women’s Art Festival. Her published work deals with gender, mobility and digital surveillance and the sub-culture of psychedelic drugs in Pakistan. She has done a cover story on harm reduction, substance abuse and the recreational power of mind-altering drugs, for the Herald Magazine and is often found critiquing popular culture through film, music and TV show review essays. Incorporating her photography, video and audio skills, she now plans to make a switch to multimedia storytelling through her interdisciplinary electives on ethnographic filmmaking and documentaries of resistance.

Anna Miller is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and Near Eastern Studies Program. She graduated from Boston University in 2016 with a B.A. in International Relations and Middle East Studies. Anna worked in political fundraising for several years in Washington, D.C. before moving to Ankara, Turkey. She spent two years there, teaching English as a Fulbright fellow and later working in international education. New to journalism, Anna hopes to build upon her love of writing to tell stories that explore big issues through individual people and their experiences. She is particularly interested in urban development and space-making in Turkey, Kurdish statehood and nationalism, and food culture. Her biggest passion is learning foreign languages. She also loves reading mystery novels and hanging out with her cat, Bumi.

Simon Schatzberg is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program.

Liza Schmidt is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program. She holds a B.A. in human development from Brown University. After graduation, Liza moved to Medellín, Colombia, where she spent seven years managing volunteer programs for international education non-profits, working in tourism, and doing freelance content writing and translation work. She also started a weekly news bulletin called “La Vaina” to summarize and contextualize Colombian news. Written in Spanglish, the newsletter included breaking news, political developments, sports updates, and quirky features, exploring topics like the history of the traditional gunpowder-fueled Alborada celebration or the growing orthodox Jewish community in Medellín. Through this personal project, her interest in journalism grew, and her friends often joke that she starts half of her sentences with “I read an interesting article on…” She joined NYU to develop her journalistic skills and promote connection, action, and empathy between people who appear to have little in common, by revealing the parallels in their lived experiences.

Evando Thompson is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and European and Mediterranean Studies Program. He recently graduated from Seton Hall University in New Jersey, with a B.A. in Journalism and a minor in German. At Seton Hall, Evando was a newscaster at WSOU 89.5 FM, sideline reporter/digital content producer for the university’s Pirates Sports Network and an editor for Seton Hall’s school newspaper. He is very interested in podcasting and has completed a series of podcasts for Seton Hall’s Institute of Communication and Religion, an interest he also pursued during his Masters studies at NYU. In addition to podcasting, he is passionate about writing feature stories or reporting on pressing issues that go overlooked. He plans to focus his graduate research on the changing news industry in Germany and is particularly interested in investigating the financial and emotional impact of socio-economic issues, by examining it through the lens of the unprecedented flood in Western Germany. Outside of academics, Evando is an avid Chelsea fan and loves to play soccer. He is an intermediate German Speaker. Evando is a citizen of Jamaica.

Ben Weiss is enrolled in the joint Global Journalism and International Relations Program. He grew up outside New York City and now lives in Queens. After he graduated from a small college in Minnesota, he spent a year teaching English in northern China. Once he returned to the States, he moved to New York City and worked the ensuing three years as a waiter, tutor, and curriculum developer. When he finishes his degree in journalism and international relations, he hopes to move back abroad and explore the intersections between technology, the environment, and migration. (He also fantasizes about baking five-tiered entremets on the Great British Bake Off, but alas, realizes that he would crumble like shortbread underneath judge Paul Hollywood’s steely blue gaze.)