Where Are They Now?

What Urban Reporting Grads Are Up To

(at least to the best of our knowledge)

If you’re not listed here, it’s because we don’t know where you are. Keep us up to date by sending us your news, work-related or otherwise. Thanks!

Class of ‘07

Andy Hawkins is producing some great work at Crains New York Business, where he started working as a political reporter last fall. Matt Sollars left his gig at the Citizens Budget Commission and is now the press contact at the Campaign Finance Board. Expect to see him play a major role in this year’s election mess. Annika Harris is working as an associate editor at UPTOWN magazine. And check out our description in the Alum Corner of Brigid Bergin’s transition to being the City Hall reporter for WNYC.

No sooner did Andy Hawkins get to Crains than Danny Massey left for the political strategy firm Berlin Rosen.

Joe Hirsch continues to be the maestro up at the Mott Haven Herald and the Hunts Point Express. One of his competitors is fellow classmate Kate Pastor, the editor of the Riverdale Press. Kate’s paper just had the pleasure of partnering with Tom Robbins’ urban investigative class this past fall on a project about patronage in the Bronx court system.

Marlene Peralta is now reporting for El Diario/La Prensa. Nadia Zonis is a producer at CUNY TV, where she works on Brian Lehrer’s wonderful show.

Tanzina Vega writes about advertising and digital media for the New York Times, where she has been a reporter since before she graduated.

 

Class of ‘08

Barry Paddock is doing rock-solid reporting at the NY Daily News, where he has been since before he graduated.

Annie Schreffler managed the difficult task of getting a job at the only public radio station in Boston. Clark Merrefield, working as a writer and editor for Volpe, the National Transportation Center in the Boston area, says the two are in regular contact. Danny Teigman is a copy editor at Reputation Line, Inc. in the Miami/Fort Lauderdale area. Stephen Bronner is a local editor for The Patch, managing the news sites for the Five Towns and Rockville Centre communities on Long Island. Anna Limontas-Salisbury is working as a correspondent at Women’s eNews.

 

Class of ‘09

Kate Nocera is trying to keep Washington, D.C. honest on behalf of Politico. Valerie Lapinski works as a multimedia producer for Time magazine’s website. Aisha al-Muslim is now a full-time staff reporter at Newsday. Mike Reicher just made us jealous by sending a card from his seaside perch in CA. He’s got a new gig at the Orange County Register after winning a bunch of awards at his prior workplace.

Nicole Turso has moved on from NY1 to the Manhattan Borough President’s office, where she is helping Scott Stringer’s speechwriting team. Joe Walker is covering biotech for Dow Jones. Carla Murphy is now a contributing editor for the Nation Institute’s investigative fund and a producer for Brian Lehrer at CUNY TV. Jim Flood is an editor at Bloomberg News.

Lindsay Lazarski works as a News Works web producer in Philadelphia. Anastasia Economides is working as an overnight web assistant for the New York Times. Maria Clark moved to New Orleans, where she works for the New Orleans Business Journal.

 

Class of ‘10

Annie Byrnes is a web producer for WATE-TV in Knoxville, TN. Alana Casanova-Burgess is a producer at WNYC. Also at WNYC is Dan Tucker, who was recently named a business reporter there. Colby Hamilton is covering City Hall and city politics at DNAinfo.  Sherry Mazzocchi is now a video producer for a computer center for visually impaired people. How cool is that? Katie Honan, when she’s not busy helping her family and neighbors in the Rockaways recover from Hurricane Sandy, covers parts of Queens for DNAinfo.

Lisa Riordan Seville got an Open Society Foundation grant to work on a criminal justice topic (her favorite!). Teresa Tomassoni is now a director of programs at FAIR girls in D.C., a female empowerment and anti-trafficking organization. Amy Yensi is reporting for News 12 in the Bronx and Brooklyn. Walter Smith-Randolph has an exciting new job in Flint, MI, as noted in the Alum Corner.

Emily Lavin is a health editor in San Francisco. I wonder how much she sees Amy Berryhill, who is a video producer there.

Some are even further afield: Both Eleanor Miller and Kerri Macdonald are working for the International Herald Tribune  in Hong Kong these days. What’s up with that?

 

Class of ‘11

Patrick Wall is writing up a storm for DNAinfo.com. Roxanna Asgarian is working as a freelance journalist, writer, and social media specialist. Jose Bayona stopped by the newsroom recently. He’s working as an online communications manager for Pro Mujer and just got a gig teaching web-video production at Hofstra University. Daniel Rosenblum is a reporter at Verona-Cedar Grove Times. Paul Pederson is hard at work reporting for DNA info. Nicholas Rizzi is too, as both a reporter and a producer. Michael McCutcheon is now a politics editor at Policy NYC. And Kahliah Laney is now a production secretary at ABC News.

Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke seems like she’s on the front page of the New York Observer every week. Her media beat is exploding! Tamy Cozier is an associate producer at PBS. Daniel Prendergast is a police bureau reporter for the NY Post. Lisha Arino is an entertainment reporter for the Muskegon Chronicle and for M Live in Muskegon, MI. Brendaliss Gonzalez is a reporter at the KSHB television station in Kansas City. Geoff Decker still has his gig at Gotham Schools – he graduated officially in December.

Annais Morales sees Errol Louis all the time from her producing spot at NY1, where she was recently promoted to associate producer. 

 

Class of ‘12 

It’s early days for this group, as they just put away their gowns and caps from our last December graduation. However, Peter Moskowitz has a gig with The Local and is stringing for the NY Daily News. Chester Soria is a city government reporter at Gotham Gazette. Christine Streich is working as a newsroom intern at WNYC Radio. Rachel Sapin is a reporter at The Aurora Sentinel. Laura Shin contributes regularly to both Forbes magazine and CBS Interactive.

David Sanchirico is working as an assistant editor for ESPN, based in Connecticut. Tristan Hallman is now a staff writer at the Dallas Morning News. Sean Carlson is working at KRBD, a radio station in Ketchikan, Alaska! And Claudia Bracholdt is all the way over in Germany, working as a multimedia journalist for SAVIDAS filmproduction GmbH. Wow!

We can’t wait to see what the next graduating class will bring to the table!

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