About Us

Cheng Herng Shinn has worked as an associate producer for media organizations such as the BBC, MTV, National Geographic and the Discovery Channel while he was in Tokyo, Japan from 2003 to 2010. He has also been a producer for a current affairs program at NHK, Japan’s public broadcaster. He aims to produce and direct documentaries as well as news, business and current affairs programs. He’s a graduate student at Columbia University’s School of Journalism, and in his free time, Cheng practices Iaijutsu, a Japanese martial art of swordsmanship.
Elizabeth Davies is from Glasgow, Scotland and graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2009 with a degree in politics. Her journalism career began after her West Wing obsession convinced her to come to Washington as an intern with ITN to cover the presidential election. Elizabeth then moved to London and worked on the foreign desks of both ITN and Sky News, helping with the coverage of everything from the Haiti earthquake to the World Cup. She’ll graduate in May with a Master’s in broadcast journalism from Columbia. View her work online at elizabethdavies.net and reach her on Twitter @davieseliz.
 

 Tamir Elterman has always had a strong affinity for spicy foods and even spicier situations. Born in Berkeley, California to Mexican-Jewish immigrants, Tamir was immersed in a wide variety of cultures since birth.  He speaks three languages and wants to learn three more. After making a feature documentary for three years in Israel, he moved towards the bright lights of the big city to attend Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.  His most recent work has been featured on NYTimes.com, Jerusalem Post and Mashable.
Josh Haskell grew up in Los Angeles and attended the University of Michigan where he majored in Screen Arts and Cultures and worked at the university’s TV station. He moved to Salina, Kansas after graduating and worked for an NBC Affiliate covering everything from tornadoes to local crime. He worked as a one man band and learned to immerse himself in the community in order to find stories. After two years in Kansas, he moved to New York to study broadcasting at Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism where he’ll graduate in May. Josh hopes to one day work for a network or cable news station.
Katrina Kaufman is a graduate student in broadcast journalism and law at Columbia University. Previously, she worked in film production on the movies Avatar and It’s Complicated. She was also the arts editor of Venice Magazine, a Los Angeles arts and entertainment publication, where she profiled prominent artists, filmmakers and actors. Last summer, she interned at the Southern California PBS station KCET. Katrina grew up in Boston and Los Angeles. She has a B.A. in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia College. She hopes to work in broadcast television or documentary film.
Alex Luchsinger is originally from Washington, D.C., but spent his formative years in Florida. He enlisted in the Marine Corps instead of going to college right away, which he calls his “mature decision at an immature mindset.” The Marine Corps gave Alex the opportunity to live in Japan, travel to Australia and Korea, and deploy to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. In Iraq, Alex conducted security operations and convoy missions throughout Al Anbar Province. After graduation, Alex hopes to pursue a career in international journalism or veterans advocacy.
Cynthia Martinez hails from Holland, Mich. Having graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Aviation Administration from Western Michigan University, she eventually landed in New York on a quest to experience new things and see the world. She applied to Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism looking for training that would help her make a difference in the world.  She is passionate about public speaking and storytelling. Her hope is to combine an interest in marathon running and aviation with a career in journalism. She is studying broadcast and sees the need for online stories on health and fitness issues, especially among children and families.
Chienye Ogwo has ten years experience as a corporate commercial lawyer in her home country Nigeria, and she decided to expand her horizons and follow her passion for communicating and storytelling by coming to the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism where she is currently working towards a Master of Science Degree in Journalism with a broadcast specialization. A lover of books and television, she describes herself as naturally curious and expressive; passionate about exploring her world and telling stories about it in ways that capture attention and generate action.
Michelle Oh is a broadcast journalist and is currently a dual-degree candidate at Columbia University’s School of Journalism and School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). After she graduates in May, Michelle hopes to blend her love of news and her interest in international affairs through cutting-edge, global-minded journalism. She splits her time between two great cities – New York and Philadelphia. Before graduate school, Michelle worked at L.E.K. Consulting. Her cases focused on the retail and aviation sectors. She’s a graduate of Columbia College where she majored in East Asian Languages and Cultures.
Melissa Parrelli is from Boston, Mass. and is a graduate of Boston University. She has worked with the Boston Red Sox, Boston Bruins, and she was a beat reporter for NCAA DI Men’s Ice Hockey. Her prior experience also includes NikeWomen.com, CBS News, Entertainment Tonight and Last Call with Carson Daly. She covers the annual NHL Draft and is a contributing reporter for Tiger Beat and BOP magazines. After graduating from Columbia as a broadcast concentrator, she plans on pursuing a career as an enterprise reporter/producer. Follow her on twitter  @melissaparrelli.
Eric Paternot is a citizen of both Finland and Switzerland. He is a graduate of Harvard University, where he majored in government and Islamic studies, and served as executive producer and president of Harvard Undergraduate Television. In 2009, Eric was the recipient of a George Peabody Gardner Fellowship, which he used to write, shoot, and edit a documentary covering the daily meaning of happiness in Bhutan. Eric loves powder skiing, the great outdoors, and served close to three years in the Swiss Armed Forces. Twitter: @paternot
Harriet Riley comes to journalism as an accomplished creative writer. She’d written two novels by the time she was 18 and is currently working on a children’s book about the environment. She studied international relations and film at the Australian National University. She was the co-founder and editor-in-chief of G-1Billion, covering the United Nations climate change talks in Copenhagen. She has worked as an intern for the International Federation of Journalists, helping to defend press freedom and provide journalistic training in the Asia-Pacific region. She is currently an intern at the United Nations Headquarters.

Angel Robinson is a Dallas, Texas native and alumna of Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Ga. She graduated magna cum laude with a degree in Mass Media Arts and a minor in French. Her work experience includes reporting for Canyon News; anchoring and producing for her alma mater’s CAU-TV; and serving as an events correspondent for a college radio station. She was a public relations intern for Bloomingdale’s and The Brunswick Group. She’ll pursue arts and culture reporting after graduating from Columbia. She aims to be an on-air entertainment reporter and produce video blogs for online media companies. Follow her tweets @angellenise.
Ingrid Rojas is a Colombian journalist working towards a master’s degree at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism with a broadcast concentration. She has worked as associate producer on Bill Moyers Journal and as a freelance producer, shooter and editor for CNN Heroes, Currents, a faith-based nightly news program, and other news organizations. She received a scholarship from the National Association of Hispanic Journalists towards her studies at Columbia and holds a B.S. in Film Production from the University of Texas at Austin.
Chiara Sottile is a multimedia journalist in the broadcast concentration at Columbia. Previously, she reported for The Associated Press in Rome. She hails from wine country, Calif., and got her start as a senior news reporter for Daily Bruin Television at UCLA. There she won her first Mark of Excellence Award from the Society of Professional Journalists in general news reporting. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in political science and public policy. She has interned at “The Ed Show,” KABC-TV and GOOD Magazine. She hopes to continue multimedia reporting after graduating from Columbia in May. Follow her on Twitter.
Christina Scotti is a New York City native whose love of the written word and interest in journalism began during her high school days as a writer for the school newspaper–and has continued on since then. While at Hamilton College, where she double-majored in English and Government, Christina had internships at CBS, BusinessWeek and Senator Hillary Clinton’s office on Capitol Hill. Today she is a reporter for Fox Business.
Brett Teal is a multimedia journalist transplanted from southern California. Previously, he worked as a sports producer at KTLA-TV in Los Angeles. While there, he covered the 2010 Lakers championship, interviewing athletes such as Pau Gasol, Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher.  He also co-produced the nightly 15-minute sports segment. He received his bachelor’s degree in journalism from California State University Northridge and hopes to be reunited with warm weather in the near future.  After he graduates from Columbia University in May, Brett wants to work on long-form, investigative sports stories.
Yeong Lim is a broadcast concentrator at Columbia and a news assistant at NY1. He received  his bachelor’s in communications and East Asian studies from Calvin College and also attended Waseda University in Tokyo. He interned at ABC and Fox in Grand Rapids, Mich. and was awarded scholarship to cover the 2010 national convention of the Asian American Journalists Association. He was born in Hiroshima and raised in South Korea, Japan and the U.S. He’s fluent in all three languages. He hopes to use his familiarity with international culture to produce and host travel/entertainment shows for television in the future.