Naomi Abraham is a multimedia freelance journalist (print, photography and video) based in New York City. She covers international news and stories on immigration, race and women’s issues. Her work has appeared in New America Media, Alternet, Women’s eNews, Global Post and Mashable. She has also worked in the non-profit sector for nearly a decade on issues ranging from immigrant rights and refugee resettlement to alternative media and women's rights. Most recently she managed a multi-million dollar funding portfolio as a program officer with an organization dedicated to advancing social justice and human rights. Drawing on her extensive experience with non-profits, in addition to her work as a journalist, she also currently advises organizations on communication and development strategies. Naomi completed her undergraduate studies at Sarah Lawrence College and received graduate degrees in international relations and journalism from the City University of New York and Columbia University School of Journalism.
Bobby Caina Calvan covered health care issues for The Sacramento Bee for two years before recently embarking on a freelance career. Before taking on the health care beat, Calvan was a general assignment reporter who covered same-sex marriage, major wildfires, wayward whales and anti-war protests. He also served a tour of duty in the Baghdad bureau for McClatchy Newspapers. Prior to working for The Bee, Calvan freelanced for The Boston Globe and was a staffer for The Virginian Pilot, The Seattle Times, The Detroit Free Press and several smaller newspapers in California.
Bolanle Omisore Since matriculating at New York University, Bolanle Omisore has interned for the ABC News show Nightline, ABC News on Campus and NewsOne.com. Before attending graduate school, Bolanle worked as the Digital Media Coordinator for BET Networks' Digital Media Group. She has experience with both online and broadcast journalism and enjoys covering stories of underground culture. While at NYU, Bolanle worked as a freelance video journalist with The New York Times during their student journalism institute in New Orleans and won a fellowship from the Japan Foundation to tour the country for two weeks and meet with government officials around the country. Bolanle has just signed on as the newest producer/anchor for NN24, a newly launched cable news network based out of Nigeria, West Africa, and airing all over the continent.
Tina Pamintuan directs the radio program at the City University of New York's (CUNY) Graduate School of Journalism where she teaches a class in audio podcasting and produces an interview program called the Reporter's Notebook. She began her career at National Public Radio (NPR) where her favorite task was writing science and adventure scripts for Morning Edition's Radio Expeditions. In 2001, she was part of a small team that won a Dupont-Columbia Silver Baton for the yearlong series, The Geographic Century. Tina's interest in education began ten years ago when she founded Xtreme Youth Zone Media, a documentary training program for teenagers. Her projects have received support from organizations, including the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the Radio and Television News Directors Foundation, and the Third Coast International Audio Festival. She has written for magazines, including Humanities and Bust. Last year, she was a fellow at the CUNY Writers' Institute.
Cindy Rodríguez is an award-winning journalist who is Web 2.0 savvy. During her lengthy career, she covered race relations and cultural affairs for The Detroit News, wrote provocative columns on the intersection of culture and politics for The Denver Post, and covered immigration and demographics for The Boston Globe. Cindy has taught journalism at New York University, Boston University, and several other universities. She has been a board member of Unity, Inc.: Journalists of Color, and served as a vice president for the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. She is a 2000 National Press Foundation Fellow and holds a master's in digital media from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism.
Janell Ross is a New York-based reporter for the Huffington Post. A Texas native, Janell has covered local politics, business, state and national social issues including immigration, race and demographic change for nearly a decade. She has written for The Tennessean in Nashville, The News & Observer in Raleigh and The Corpus Christi,TX-based Caller-Times. Her work has also been published in USA Today. Janell is a graduate of Vassar College and Columbia University. In her spare time, Janell likes to read -- usually a few books at a time -- cook and paint.
Nick Shields is a Producer and Reporter for Chicago Tonight, a nightly newsmagazine program that airs on the PBS station in Chicago. He started his time at the show in September 2008, transitioning from a career in print journalism. Before joining the PBS family, he worked as a news reporter for the Baltimore Sun and Los Angeles Times. Shields covered the 2008 Democratic and Republican national conventions for the Chicago's suburban newspaper the Daily Herald. He holds a master's degree in Public Affairs Reporting from the University of Illinois at Springfield. During that time, he also covered the Illinois General Assembly for the Daily Herald. He completed his undergraduate work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he majored in print-journalism.
Perla Trevizo is the diversity and higher education reporter for the Chattanooga Times Free Press, a regional newspaper in Tennessee. She focuses on covering the growing immigrant and refugee communities in Southeast Tennessee and Northwest Georgia. She started her career in her hometown of El Paso, Texas, at a Spanish-language newspaper covering immigration and politics before transitioning to the El Paso Times, where she covered community issues. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a bachelor’s in political science and from the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid, Spain, with a master’s in news agency journalism. While in Spain, she covered courts for news agency Efe and worked as a translator for Down Jones Newswire.
Nicole Ferguson, a reporter for Fox affiliate WGHP in Greensboro, N.C., will report on how China, a country associated with taking manufacturing jobs away from the United States, is now becoming an importer of furniture and upholstery from High Point, N.C.
Cindy Carcamo, the immigration reporter at The Orange County Register, will explore how the Pacific Ocean has become the latest route for human smuggling into the United States from Mexico.
Arwa Gunja, a New York City-based producer for the public radio program “The Takeaway,” will report on the social and religious implications of France’s decision a year ago to ban women from wearing burqas, or traditional Muslim coverings.
Erika Beras, a behavioral health reporter and producer at 90.5 Essential Public Radio station in Pittsburgh, will compare the controversial practice of "fracking” natural gas in southwestern Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale region with the burgeoning industry in Poland.
Elizabeth Aguilera, a staff writer on immigration and demographics at U-T San Diego (formerly The San Diego Union-Tribune), will report on human trafficking between the United States and Latin America.
Shirley Jahad, the host of “Weekend Edition” at 89.3 KPCC in Los Angeles, will investigate China's involvement in rare mineral extraction in Africa, for use in manufacturing cell phones, computers and other high tech devices, as well as the environmental impact on the Serengeti.
Phillip Martin, a senior investigative reporter for WGBH Boston Public Radio, will report on the special challenges faced by Asian women migrants working in Boston, New York and San Francisco.
Antonio Olivo, an urban affairs reporter with the Chicago Tribune, will take a close look at the increasing investment in Illinois from China.
Simone Sebastian, an energy reporter for the Houston Chronicle, will cover how Texas is capitalizing on the drilling boom in Brazil resulting from the country’s discovery of massive offshore oil deposits.
Hannah Yi, a New York City-based multimedia producer for the PBS show “Need to Know,” will cover the controversial use of U.S. drones in South Asia.
