résumé

WORK EXPERIENCE

The Financial Times Group, New York, NY
Reporter, June 2011 – present
• Reporting on distressed debt for Debtwire, the FT Group’s 24-hour news service.
• Breaking news on corporate mergers, acquisitions, restructurings, and bankruptcies.
• Fluency in primary and secondary markets for loans and bonds.

Freelance Journalist
2008 – present
• Contributing writer for: Asia Times Online (Hong Kong), Christian Science Monitor (Boston), Construction (Brooklyn), The Economist (London), Far Eastern Economic Review (Hong Kong), GlobalPost (Boston), Jaunted.com (a Conde Nast travel Web site) and The National (Abu Dhabi).
• Articles included an investigatory piece for The Economist that uncovered a widespread wage kickbacks scheme within the Khmer Rouge Tribunal; first-person narrative for The National about traveling by “bamboo train” along Cambodia’s decrepit railway; an article for Asia Times Online that questioned the true benefits of microfinance schemes, which Peter Wall of the Microfinance Information Xchange called “a well-informed review of major issues in microfinance.”
• Interviewed top diplomats including Myanmar’s (Burma’s) deputy foreign minister, Cambodia’s foreign minister, Finland’s foreign minister, the ASEAN secretary general, the Polish ambassador to Thailand and Cambodia, and the United Nations’ High Commissioner for Human Rights representative in Cambodia.

The Christian Science Monitor, Boston, MA
International Desk Editor, January 2010 – May 2011
• Edited, copyedited, and assigned articles from the international news desk.
• Helped create and curate two new blogs, Africa Monitor and Latin America Monitor.

Thomson Reuters, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Temporary Office Chief, July 2009
• Reported and monitored all political and business news out of Cambodia for 24-hour news wire.

Royal University of Phnom Penh, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Adjunct Instructor, January 2009 – July 2009
• Lectured course on editing and reporting for second-year students at Cambodia’s premier journalism school.
• Developed curriculum on the mechanics of reporting and writing a news article.
• Introduced students to diplomats and leaders, whom they then interviewed for articles assigned as homework.

The Cambodia Daily, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Associate Editor, December 2007 – March 2009
• Reported from battle zone during 2008 Thai-Cambodia border skirmish at Preah Vihear temple.
• Developed high-level sources within the Cambodian government and the United Nations’ in-country offices.
• Wrote up to four articles daily about politics, business and culture.
• Edited Cambodians’ articles and worked with young Cambodian journalists to improve their reporting skills.
• Copyedited and paginated newspaper pages using Quark Xpress.

Americas Quarterly, New York, NY
Contributor, February 2008
• Covered Mexico’s provincial elections and investigated the fallout of the 2007 teachers’ protests with the article, “Oaxaca-The Teachers’ Strike One Year Later.”

American Lawyer Media, New York, NY
Legal Reporter, January 2007 – December 2007
• Wrote 12 reports a week for law publication VerdictSearch.
• Developed legal sources in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

New York Public Schools, New York, NY
Substitute, January 2007
• Substitute teacher and classroom assistant in Upper West Side elementary school.

The Day, New London, CT
Staff reporter, June 2005 – September 2006
• Covered community news in Stonington and Groton, Connecticut.
• Wrote award-winning, four-part series about how the housing bubble fueled by “McMansions” was pricing low-income and elderly people out of their communities.

VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE

826NYC, Brooklyn, NY, October 2006 – December 2007
• Worked twice a week at The Superhero Supply Store, a non-profit creative writing center.
• Tutored students in general subjects and helped coordinate workshops on fiction writing and filmmaking.

Habitat for Humanity, Grand Rapids, MI, September 2002
• Spent several weekends applying vinyl siding to homes for low-income families.

Adelante High School, Grand Rapids, MI, Spring 2002
• Tutored Latino immigrants in English and general subjects once a week.

Eastern European Outreach, Kiev, Ukraine, June 2001
• Mentored children from low-income families at youth camp on outskirts of Kiev.

PROFESSIONAL AWARDS

• January 2008: “Story of the Month” for article “Golf Industry Grows as New Courses Open,” in The Cambodia Daily.
• 2007: Second place for best “In-depth Series” from Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists.
• 2006: First place for best “Social Issues Feature Story” from New England Press Association.
• 2005: Honorable mention at New London Film Festival for documentary about cross-country bicycle trip.
• 2002: Second place for best screenplay at Calvin College Film Festival for film short, “The Mullet.”

INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE

• Reported from Cambodia, Guatemala, India, Iraq, Laos, Mexico, Thailand, Tibet and Vietnam.
• Lived in Phnom Penh, studied Khmer, and worked as journalist and journalism instructor from December 2007 to September 2009.
• Lived in Budapest, Hungary, for five months in 2004 while taking university courses with Hungarian, American and European students and exploring Eastern Europe and the Balkans.
• Drove Volkswagon minivan through Transylvania, in western Romania, to study the plight of the Roma and the cultural isolation of Hungarians cut off from their homeland due to the 1920 Treaty of Trianon.
• Countries visited include: Austria, Bosnia & Herzegovina, British Virgin Islands, Cambodia, Canada, China (including Tibet Autonomous Region), Croatia, Czech Republic, England, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, India, Italy, Laos, Lebanon, Mexico, Nepal, Poland, Romania, Serbia & Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, Syria, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, Vatican City, and Vietnam.

ADVENTURE TRAVEL

• Traveled four months by land across Asia in 2009, from Beijing to Istanbul, with stops in China at Lhasa and Mount Everest Base Camp; in Nepal to hike through the Himalayas; in India for a camel safari and to cover the anniversary of the 26/11 terrorist attacks on Mumbai; in Lebanon to visit the Hezbollah-controlled cities of Tyre and Baalbek; and in Iraq to realize that Kurdistan truly is another world from the war-torn country portrayed in the media.
• Rode two weeks by train, in 2009, from the mountains of northern Vietnam to the sweltering marshes of the Mekong Delta.
• Received scarring sunburns, in 2007, while attempting to surf the waves of Mexico’s Pacific coast.
• Hitchhiked two weeks, in 2006, from Honduras to the ancient Mayan ruins of Tikal in northern Guatemala.
• Pedaled across America during summer 2004, carrying in saddle bags all the food, clothing and equipment needed to camp on the roadside during the two-month journey.
• Visited Maui, Kauai, The Big Island, and Oahu to study the religion of the Hawaiian islands in winter 2004 for a three-week college course, titled “Visual Culture in Hawaii.” Produced a 30-minute documentary of the trip using the software iMovie.

EDUCATION

Power Reporting, Boston, MA, January 2006
• A day-long course on investigatory reporting conducted by Bill Dedman, 1989 Pulitzer Prize recipient, on how to check facts on deadline, background people and companies, and use the Internet and Excel spreadsheets as research tools.

Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI, May 2005
Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy with minors in Physics and Journalism.
• Stringer for student-run newspaper, The Chimes.
• Founder and managing editor of alternative bi-weekly newspaper, The Real News.
• Ran varsity cross-country and track for one of the nation’s premier running programs.
• Four-year member of college’s Improv comedy troup.

Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary, Fall 2004
• Enrolled in courses on technology, film, and history.