Meet the CUNY Social Journalism Class of 2017!

On January 30th, CUNY’s latest cohort of social journalists officially joined the Graduate School of Journalism, embarking on a quest to serve communities.

The students that are a part of this program are from all walks of life, from Morocco to Jersey to Uruguay, and from backgrounds in folklore to microbiology. But there is one thing brings them together: the shared idea that journalism needs to shift gears. Throughout the course of this year-long program, social-j students will aim to address that issue by engaging with communities, including them in the conversation and dedicating themselves to serving their needs.

Meet the CUNY Social Journalism Class of 2017:

Hailing from Montevideo, Uruguay, Sebastián Auyanet graduated from Universidad de Montevideo in 2006. He has been working as a journalist/newsroom creature since 2005, when he started covering culture and music as a reporter and editor, dabbling in metro and political news every now and then. For the past two and a half years, Sebastian was working as a social media editor at El Observador, where he started to get closer to employing various modes of engagement, looked at new ways of using metrics and developed an interest in new ways of working with analytics and emerging reader participation models. He is also a professor at Universidad de Montevideo, where he teaches courses on online narratives and opinion journalism. Sebastian is also the Uruguay ambassador at Sembramedia, a Latin American project based on emerging news projects in need of further resources for development.

E-mail: sebastian.auyanet@journalism.cuny.edu

Twitter: @Sebauyanet

Ghita Benslimane is a Moroccan native and a graduate of Boston University’s film and television program. After obtaining her bachelor’s degree in 2015, she joined the Snapchat content team as a story editor, curating and producing international and regional stories. After facing difficulties in attempting to get a work visa, Ghita moved back to Morocco and joined the Morocco World News team as a reporter and editor, covering MENA and Morocco-related news. As someone who is incredibly passionate about the struggles faced by international students in trying to obtain work authorization postgrad, her time at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism will be spent serving the international student community of New York.

E-mail: ghita.benslimane@journalism.cuny.edu

Twitter: @GhitaTweets

Jessica Brockington graduated from Columbia University with a degree in english literature. In 1993, after a brief internship at the Village Voice, she launched a community newspaper in Washington Heights, when that area of Manhattan had the highest homicide rate in NYC. For nearly three years, she wrote about the neighborhoods of Northern Manhattan. Her work in those communities was covered by the New York Times, NPR and the Daily News.

She has twice been a guest speaker at the New York Police Academy on the subject of community relations and reporting. In 2008, with a move out of NYC, she became active in addressing environmental issues. She raised money for a small scale wind energy project, organized networking events and served as an elected member to the Greenwich, CT Representative Town Meeting to bring environmental issues to the town’s legislature.

A believer in productive “gap years,” Jessica has also baked bread professionally, “walked hots” at the race track and held a Series 3 options license at a hedge fund. This year, she’ll be serving NYC’s interfaith community as it defines its various roles in the Trump administration.

E-mail: jessica.brockington@journalism.cuny.edu

Twitter: @birdyuws

Laura Calçada is a 29-year-old from Barcelona who has been living in New York City for the past three years. During her time in the city, she’s been reporting for NPR’s Latino USA, working with New York Women in Film and Television, helping organize charity concerts, managing the communications of the Farragut Fund for Catalan Culture in the U.S and writing for local outlets from her country like Time Out Barcelona, El Temps, El Núvol and El Món. Last year, Laura spent two months working at Cultura Colectiva in Mexico City, where she learned to love the magic of Mexico. She decided to a master’s degree in social journalism because she firmly believes in the power of journalism in helping to shape critical thinking in society and thinks the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism is the best and only place to do it. During her time at CUNY, Laura plans on focusing on the arts as a social practice in New York City — how art is used to tackle issues like exclusion, environment or human rights and how artists work with communities to improve our shared existence. She is the happiest person in the world when you feed her good food, with a bonus if this can be enjoyed at the beach.

E-mail: laura.calcada@journalism.cuny.edu

Twitter: @Lauracalcada

S. Celia Clarke was a folklorist before moving to central New York six years ago. Since then, she has produced and hosted a community radio program about local food and farming, started her own tiny seasonal food business and learned to save tiny song birds from her too curious two cats. She came to the CUNY social journalism program with an interest in the quality of news in rural communities, an obsession with radio and a love of documentary film.

E-mail: celia.clarke@journalism.cuny.edu

Twitter: @sharoncclarke

Jennifer Deseo’s objective in life is to tear shit up. She has a bachelor’s degree in microbiology and has pursued graduate studies in molecular and cellular biology in the hopes of curing some infectious disease. Six years later, she realized that she sucked at science, so she made the move into freelance science reporting and medical editing. Jennifer left her native Brooklyn for quasi-urban downtown Silver Spring, Maryland in 2006. Sensing a void in verified information in her community, Jennifer launched The Silver Spring Penguin hyperlocal news website. It was a successful editorial enterprise and community gathering “place,” but it failed to generate income. The Penguin folded after three years, in early 2010. Defeated and pregnant, Jennifer returned to New York and settled in Jackson Heights, Queens. She spent the last six years raising her daughter, climbing out of deep depression, and rediscovering her role as an all-around asskicker. Currently, Jennifer is building information tools with new immigrants in Jackson Heights.

E-mail: jennifer.deseo@journalism.cuny.edu

Twitter: @jenniferdeseo

Melissa DiPento graduated from Temple University in 2008 with a degree in journalism. She spent four years as an adjunct journalism professor at various Philadelphia-area universities and plans to teach journalism at the university level post-graduation. Previously, she worked as a reporter for Technical.ly, a tech startup with a focus on community. Melissa also served as a general assignment reporter for the South Jersey Times, which publishes stories on NJ.com. She also spent five years reporting and editing for various weekly newspapers in southern New Jersey. While at Temple University, she served as an editor at the student-run newspaper. Passionate about journalism and higher education, Melissa plans to focus on how educators can help reinvent j-schools across the country.

E-mail: melissa.dipento@journalism.cuny.edu

Twitter: @mdipento

Maria Fraschilla is a New Yorker, born and raised. After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in communications from St. Francis College in 2014, Maria went on to work with the New York Road Runners and Fillmore Real Estate. Most recently, she has been working with Brooklyn gym Harbor Fitness as a digital media manager. In her free time, Maria enjoys powerlifting and working as a certified personal trainer. Maria hopes to serve the health and wellness community by bringing attention to the benefits of using exercise as a tool to combat the effects of mental illness.

E-mail:maria.fraschilla@journalism.cuny.edu

Twitter: @MariaFraschilla

Jennifer Groff graduated from Montclair State University with a degree in english and a minor in psychology. Living in an idyllic Hudson River suburb, life was comfortable, but the allure of New York City led her to take a position in PR for The Salvation Army of Greater New York. Jennifer fell in love with the organization’s mission to serve the homeless with dignity and compassion. A desire to do more hands-on work would rewrite her career plan and, for the last ten years, she has served as the organization’s Director of Volunteers. Community engagement became an unexpected passion of hers and, through social journalism, she hopes to bring the skills and tools she learns to connect with survivors and collaborate with advocates to fight child trafficking.

E-mail: jennifer.groff@journalism.cuny.edu

Twitter: @Groffy79

After obtaining his degree in international studies and broadcast journalism from the City College of New York, Monty Lokesh Kataria freelanced with numerous major South Asian TV channels in and around NYC. During his free time, Monty proudly volunteers as social media director and youth advisor with the Association of Indians in America and the Indo-American Arts Council. The nature of his work has ranged from producing and hosting some of the largest South Asian events in the city such as Diwali at Times Square, Seaport Deepavali and the New York Indian Film Festival to providing a platform to the urban South Asian youth with the Urban Desi Conference/Concert to focusing on the South Asian diaspora in every niche. The CUNY Graduate School of Journalism seemed like the perfect fit for Monty. After being raised and educated all around the globe to settling down in the capital of the world, social journalism has been both a passion and a very tangible basis for Monty’s career path. He is super excited to be a part of the 2017 class and to be surrounded by amazing faculty and loyal colleagues. Cheers to 2017 and many more to come!

E-mail: lokesh.kataria@journalism.cuny.edu

Twitter: @montyislive

Viktoria Isabel Muench was born and raised in Germany and decided to move to the U.S. in 2013 to attend Lindenwold University, where she graduated with a degree in mass communications and broadcasting. During her time at Lindenwood, she was the editor of her campus newspaper and also acted as a news reporter and radio host for the campus TV and radio stations, covering important national events such as the Ferguson riots and the Mizzou protests. After graduating, Viktoria worked in the communications department of one of the biggest school districts in the St. Louis metro area, focusing on producing content with a community angle for web and print. She now works on serving the emotional abuse victims community and hopes to start an awareness campaign that will provide helpful resources and a place for victims to come together and support each other.

E-mail: viktoria.muench@journalism.cuny.edu

Twitter: @viktoriamuench

Angelo Paura is an Italian journalist based in New York. Since 2012, he has been working as an editor and reporter for Gruppo Sole 24 Ore, the publisher of Italy’s most important financial newspaper. He is also a reporter for the news agencies Radiocor and AskaNews and a writer for the magazines Pagina99, Prismo, Motherboard, The Towner and Il Tascabile. Before moving to the U.S, he was an editor at places like Sky.it, the free Italian newspaper City and Corriere del Veneto (Rcs MediaGroup). His main interests are in digital culture, new media and politics. On his desk are photos of Ryszard Kapuściński and Ettore Mo, but unlike these roving international reporters, he knows he will never leave the newsroom.

E-mail: angelo.paura@journalism.cuny.edu

Twitter: @angelopaura

Max Resnik is a multimedia journalist and event producer originally from Burlington, Vermont. Max is producing the documentary film A Defiant Dude and manages the facilities at Downtown Community Television Center. This year, he plans to work with the community of ethnic media producers of New York City.

E-mail: max.resnik@journalism.cuny.edu

Twitter: @MaxResnik

From Cleveland, Ohio, Alyxaundria Sanford started her career in journalism at the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University. Throughout her career, she has served as a news producer, contributor and freelance writer for organizations such as ABC, NBC, AOL/Patch.com and Salon.com. After obtaining her first master’s degree at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Alyxaundria wants to merge her passion of storytelling and justice reform. As a part of CUNYJ’s social journalism program, Alyxaundria will be making her return to journalism, researching and reporting on the community of ex-offenders reentering society and how entrepreneurship can curb issues of employment.

E-mail: alyxaundria.sanford@journalism.cuny.edu

Twitter: @sanfordreports

Sheena Townsend is a New York criminal defense attorney who has represented clients in various criminal matters throughout her career. Sheena has also worked with diverse nonprofits in the areas of immigration law and international human rights issues. She graduated from Tufts University with a B.A. in political science and later pursued a J.D. from Suffolk University Law School, as well as a LL.M. in international law from the George Washington Law School. She is now hoping to transition to a career in social journalism, focusing on working with the formerly incarcerated and bringing to light the effect imprisonment has on not only the convicted individual, but also on his or her family and loved ones.

E-mail: sheena.townsend@journalism.cuny.edu

Twitter: @miztownsend

Charles Michio Turner is freelance journalist who is interested in covering the relationship between social movements and makers of public policy. He most recently covered social activists in Myanmar, specifically the growing labour movement. While he has maintained ties in Myanmar, he has begun to cover similar issues in the US. Charlie has also worked professionally as a photographer and travel writer. He had the opportunity to work as the chief editor of MYANMORE, a lifestyle and travel publication based in Yangon, while he was based in Myanmar.

E-mail: charles.turner@journalism.cuny.edu

Twitter: @charlesmichio

Kristine Villanueva is a graduate of Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey with a degree in journalism and media studies. While at Rutgers, she was editor-in-chief of the campus magazine Scarlet, where she covered culture, politics and social change in Newark and northern New Jersey. Prior to attending the CUNY Social Journalism program, she was the communications associate at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization that focuses on economic mobility, criminal justice reform and civic engagement. Her work will surround the DIY, nonprofit arts community and its work in maintaining inclusivity and safe spaces.

E-mail: kristine.villanueva@journalism.cuny.edu

Twitter: @kristine_ish