Staff Spring 2010

The Bronx Ink is based at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and provides ongoing coverage of many neighborhoods in the city’s greenest borough, including stories about politics, crime, the economy, education and culture.

Get in touch with all our staff by emailing thebronxink@gmail.com

eno Eno Alfred is from London and is a 2009 graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science where she graduated with a Bsc degree in government. Alfred wrote for the news section of her university’s paper, read the news for the university’s radio station, and was the publicity officer for the campus television network. Alfred also interned at Family History magazine and ITV News. In her second year, she was selected to do a television story for BBC news on the low number of black students in top universities and is currently interning at BBC News, New York. She can be contacted at eno.alfred@gmail.com
Badkar_Bio Mamta Badkar graduated from St. Xavier’s College with a degree in English and has worked as a cultural reporter for Verve in Mumbai. She can be reached at msb2166@columbia.edu.
ABaezB Astrid E. Baez graduated from Cornell University with a a degree in Government and Spanish Literature. Before coming to Columbia she studied journalism techniques such as feature writing and news reporting at New York University. She can be contacted at aeb2186@columbia.edu.
JBrooklandA Jennifer Brookland graduated with a degree in Foreign Service and African Studies from Georgetown University. She worked as a criminal investigator in North Carolina and Maryland before starting her studies in print journalism at Columbia University. She can be reached at jdb2160@columbia.edu
SaraBA Sarah Butrymowicz studied political science and communications at Tufts University where she worked as a news editor and managing editor for the Tufts Daily. As an undergrad, she interned at both the Green Bay Press-Gazette in Wisconsin and at USA Today. Last semester, she covered Northern Manhattan at TheUptowner.org.
Lyndsy Lynsey Chutel is a graduate of the University of Johannesburg and Rhodes University, where she majored in politics, journalism and philosophy, and is to complete an M.A. in international relations from the University of the Witwatersrand in 2010. She has also interned at the South African Institute of International Affairs and various media organizations. Chutel hopes that a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University will catapult her into an adventurous career. She was born in Johannesburg and currently lives in New York City.
SDasguptaA Sonia Dasgupta graduated from the University of Delaware in May of 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in English and Communications. After interning at the Gannett-owned News Journal for the summer, she began working at The Cecil Whig in Maryland in December of 2007. There she covered education, politics, and environmental issues until she decided to attend the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University to practice digital media. She is currently taking classes in investigative journalism and photojournalism, while writing for The Bronx Ink.
DFastenbergB Dan Fastenberg worked as a journalist in Argentina, first for the English-language newspaper The Buenos Aires Herald and then for the Thomson Reuters News Service. A native of New York, Fastenberg is a 2005 graduate of Columbia. While an undergrad, he had a sports column for the Daily Spectator, entitled “Fast Times.”
SFellmanA Sam Fellman graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 2002 and served in the U.S. Navy for six years on active duty, deploying twice to the Persian Gulf and once to Iraq. After receiving an honorable discharge in 2008, Sam moved to New York to pursue a career in journalism. He worked as an editorial assistant at Harper’s Magazine, where he helped produce the Harper’s Index – a monthly statistical recap of news and politics — and is now a student at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. When not on deadline, he can be found running, biking, sampling Halal carts and otherwise exploring New York.
SelamA Selamawit Gebrekidan
Yasmina Guerda Yasmine Guerda graduated from Sorbonne University in Paris and the French Centre de Formation des Journalistes (CFJ). After working for two years in French media (RTL, France Inter, Libération, La Voix du nord…), Guerda came to Columbia’s Graduate school of Journalism and is currently a broadcast concentrator. She maintains a blog in French about Israeli cinema. Her work can be seen at yasminaguerda.com and she can be reached at yag2105@columbia.edu.
Ashley Harris
W.HellmundA Wanda Hellmund, a recent politics graduate from the University of London, is currently interning with NBC. In the past she was an intern at CNBC in London, the commodities desk at DowJones Newswires in London, and TV stations in Germany. She can be reached at wwh2110@columbia.edu
EInceB Elif Ince was born and raised in Istanbul, once the last stop of the Orient Express. A print concentrator at Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism, she is reporting and writing about New York City. Before coming to Columbia, she graduated from Brown University with a bachelor’s in art history. At Brown, she published an investigative story about students with eating disorders and the university’s controversial handling of their cases for the Brown Daily Herald. She has written several reviews about art exhibitions, retail establishments and bars that have been published in nymag.com and Time Out New York online, and she has worked as an editorial intern at Esquire magazine. She has contributed feature articles to Harper’s Bazaar, Travel+Leisure, Cosmopolitan and Time Out magazine in Istanbul.
A.Johnson Alec Johnson graduated from Dickinson College with a degree in political science. Last year, he was editor-in-chief of The Dickinsonian, a weekly college newspaper. He has interned at the Watertown Daily Times in Watertown, N.Y. He can be reached at aej2123@columbia.edu.
S.JoshiB. Jpg Sunil Joshi covers the Northwest Bronx. He is from St. Louis, Mo., and graduated from Tulane University. He can be reached at ssj2119@columbia.edu.
dunia Dunia Kamal studied Arabic literature and journalism at Birzeit University in the West Bank. She then transferred to George Mason University where she received a degree in Communication and Business. Kamal worked at the Middle East Broadcasting Networks in documentary acquisition and program scheduling. She is currently an M.S. broadcast candidate at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York City.
Dan Lieberman began reporting as a high school student in Philadelphia, PA, serving as managing editor of his school’s newspaper. At the same time, he created an online magazine to bring together a diverse group of students from public and private schools in the Philadelphia region. Since then, Lieberman has worked with The Philadelphia Metro, The Philadelphia Inquirer, CNN, and The New York Times. As a student at McGill University in Montreal, he produced his own television series and news pieces for the university’s TV network. Currently, Lieberman is pursuing a master’s degree at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and is a fellow at the Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism . He can be reached at dhl2121@columbia.edu
MRatcliffA Michael Ratliff graduated from Hamilton College with a degree in Biology. Last year, he was a snowboard instructor living in Colorado. He wrote for the environmental technology blog ‘CleanTechnica’ and is interested about all things outdoors. He can be reached at: mar2204@columbia.edu.
Dreuter Delphine Reuter was an information technology reporter in Luxembourg for two years before she started studying investigative journalism and digital media at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. As a student, she went to Denmark, Turkey and Indonesia. Her audio project on tsunami survivors was broadcast on the Belgian national radio. After graduating in May 2010, she will return to Europe to report on the business of energy and its impact on the environment and local communities. She speaks French, Dutch and Italian. She can be reached at: dr2522@columbia.edu
Derek Simons
SSinha Shreeya Sinha multimedia “backpack” journalist based in New York City. She’s investigated oil revenue flows in developing countries, covered the legal aid crisis in New York and used multimedia to report on psychological trauma in gangs and their victims.Shreeya also uses social media platforms to report and raise awareness about the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and CNN International’s Business Unit. There, she also helps produce a daily show, World Business Today. Prior to joining the team, Shreeya interned at CNBC-TV18 and CNN-IBN in India.

She was raised in India, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Vietnam and Bangladesh, before studying in the foothills of the Indian Himalayas, Boston and New York.

Shreeya holds a B.A. in Political Science and International Relations from Brandeis University, where she was elected the first foreign president of the student government. That year, The Carter Center funded Shreeya and her peers to travel to the West Bank and Israel to examine socio-economic conditions.

Now at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, Shreeya uses multimedia to report in Harlem and the Bronx. She’s set to graduate in May and hopes to continue her lifelong passion- to give a voice to the voiceless and shed light on media dark issues.
Alice Speri graduated from Harvard University, where she studied comparative literature and government. She grew up in Italy and lived in New Mexico, India, Benin, Egypt and Palestine. She is an intern with Al Jazeera English, covering the United Nations, and recently returned from a reporting trip to post-earthquake Haiti. She can be reached at as3719@columbia.edu.
Thompson
Tracy Thompson decided against normalcy when she left her corporate gig and moved to New York in 2008. She earned her undergraduate degree from Clark Atlanta University, majoring in mass communications with a minor in broadcast journalism. An internship with CNN’s Headline News gave her the opportunity to work as a sports producer and video editor for the company. Tracy is now pursuing a career in acting, amongst many other things, while she studies at Columbia with a focus on international reporting, a passion revealed upon studying in Nairobi Kenya in 2005.
Ian
Ian Thomson worked in finance for 13 years and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland. Ian worked for multinational oil and gas companies in Aberdeen, London and Houston before arriving at Columbia. He is a regular contributor to a soccer magazine in Scotland and hopes to combine his business background with sportswriting.
Ryan4 Ryan Tracy spent two years in New Jersey, his home state, as a staff writer for The Times of Trenton. There he covered local government, politics, and education. His articles followed issues including water privatization, substance abuse, and affordable housing. He is currently studying investigative journalism at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, while also adding multimedia reporting skills to his repertoire. Ryan has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
Hunter Walker
Rania
Rania Zabeneh started her career in journalism with AlJazeera Satellite Network. She was the Arabic channel’s producer in its Jerusalem Bureau. Rania covered the death of late Palestinian president Arafat, the Palestinian and Israeli elections, the Israeli war on Lebanon and attack on Gaza, as well as other major events. In addition to producing news reports and features, she worked on AlJazeera’s semi-annual documentary “Focus on Palestine” between 2004 and 2009. Rania obtained her B.Sc. in computer science and M.A. in democracy and human rights from Birzeit University, the occupied Palestinian territory. Rania is a member of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate in Jerusalem and the Foreign Press Association in TelAviv. She is a Fulbright grantee and is interested in politics, human rights, and cultures.