SUMMARY:
»    Media professional with eight years of freelance reporting experience in more than 25 countries, including Afghanistan and Pakistan, under tight deadlines.
»    U.S. military veteran with public affairs responsibilities aboard U.S. Navy warship and in Iraq. Produced daily 30-minute television newscast, anchored worldwide radio newscast, edited ship newspaper and newscast, managed team of reporters/photographers.
»    Media development and training in Romania as U.S. Peace Corps volunteer. Organized and taught basic journalism skills in 13 cities to about 450 Romanians. Speaks advanced Romania.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

INTERNEWS SUDAN — Sudan
International non-profit media development organization
Assistant Resident Journalism Advisor, Jan. 2001 to Present

Responsible for training Sudanese radio journalists at five community radio stations in Sudan.

NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO / DEUTSCHE WELLE RADIO / RADIO FRANCE INTERNATIONAL / PACIFICA RADIO/ INTER PRESS SERVICE— Worldwide
National and international radio news broadcasts and print publication.
Freelance Reporter, 2001 to Present

Freelanced from across the Middle East, Asia, and North America, including Pakistan, Syria, Palestine, Kosovo and about 25 other countries. Filed daily headlines and features about socioeconomic, political and development issues.

»    Throughout Asia, including Afghanistan, reported on development work done by U.N. and other NGOs.
»    Served as Tokyo correspondent for two years, filing stories regularly on North Korea’s nuclear capabilities.
»    Interviewed militant leaders in rebel-controlled territory in Sri Lanka and Burma, focusing on child soldiers.
»    While based in D.C., worked from the White House and Capitol Hill providing content to national talk radio news shows around U.S. Produced nationally broadcast Doug Stephan’s Good Day and The Right Side with Armstrong Williams.


U.S. PEACE CORPS — Romania
Worldwide governmental development organization.
Volunteer, 2008 to Present

Taught 10 weekly English classes to about 300 students and tutored students and adults. Focused on journalism training and development within Romania. Served as Peace Corps Romania webmaster.

»    Conducted two-day workshops with 14 hours of self-created journalism training in 13 cities, teaching about 380 high school students, 65 teachers, eight university students, and eight journalists.
»    Organized, with Romanian colleagues, a nationwide English-language journalism camp to train about 60 high school students from 37 cities. Managed 10 Romanian teachers and 10 U.S. Peace Corps volunteers at the week-long event.
»    Published 130-page book titled “Primii Paşi în Jurnalism” (First Steps in Journalism) with Romanian journalists, teachers, students about basic media skills. Distributed to 60 school and local libraries around Romania.
»    Worked with U.S. embassy public affairs professionals to write, translate, and transmit three press releases about my projects, resulting in positive publicity in about 30 national, regional and local publications in print, TV and radio.
»    Served as Press Corps advisor for Iasi Model United Nations conference, teaching 14 students about producing a newspaper under tight deadlines, developing online multimedia content and attending press conferences.


AMERICAN FORCES NETWORK TOKYO — Tokyo, Japan
USS PELELIU PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE — San Diego, United States
American military public affairs system creates content for internal and external publications.
U.S. Navy Journalist, 2001 to 2006

While based in Japan, served as producer of daily, internationally-broadcast 30-minute video newscast and anchored regional news center’s radio newscast. Working independently, reported from across Asia to produce radio and video stories on military-related news. When transferred to USS Peleliu, managed and trained about eight junior journalists and photographers in production of ship's newspaper and TV newscast while serving as editor and reporter.

»    Completed public affairs work with multinational forces in Iraq and the Northern Persian Gulf to promote U.S. Navy and Marine Corp’s mission.
»    As editor of the ship paper, led the public affairs office to win its first media award, best Navy newspaper.
»    Photography & print articles published by TIME, AP, Reuters, Washington Post, USA Today, Seattle Times, ABC News, Yahoo! News, All Hands, Marines, Navy Times, Army Times, and other civilian and military publications.
»    Spearheaded redesign of AFN Tokyo newscast, using advanced Avid graphics, leading to its 1st place award in worldwide media contest. Developed USS Peleliu’s first digital video newscast.
»    Won military’s top photojournalism award. Selected as runner-up Navy Journalist of the Year.
»    Redesigned American Forces Network Tokyo website while serving as webmaster.
»    Won six video and radio awards in worldwide military and civilian media contests.



EDUCATION & CERTIFICATIONS:

Central Texas College
»    Instructor, English Language Class

University of Maryland University College
»    Bachelor’s Degree in Communications/Journalism (Dean’s List/Honor Roll)
           GPA: 3.7
           Specific Courses:
                     JOUR201 Writing for the Mass Media
                     JOUR330 Public Relations Theory
                     SPCH 100 Foundations of Speech Communication
                     SPCH482 Intercultural Communications
                     COMM300 Communications Theory
                     COMM 393 Technical Writing
                     COMM400 Communications and the Law
»    Associate’s Degree in General Studies

Bridge Linguatec Language School
»    Teaching of English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) Certificate

Defense Information School
»    Basic Journalism/Broadcasting Course (Distinguished Honor Grad.)

Newark High School, Newark, DE
»    High School Diploma (Honor Roll)



AWARDS:

»    Won first place in worldwide Thomas Jefferson photojournalism competition
»    Selected as runner-up Navy Journalist of the Year
»    Three video feature awards in worldwide Navy media contest
»    Award of Distinction in video features for Communicator media competition
»    Honorable Mention in radio spots category  in Thomas Jefferson competition
»    Communicator Award for video news feature
»    Kiwanis International's Gold Service Award  (50 hours of Volunteering)
»    Who's Who in America's High School Students



PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS:

»    Free Speech Radio News (Chair, Board of Directors; Member, Strategic Planning Committee; Member, Hiring Committee)
       o   Responsible for nearly $600,000 budget, which include 7.5 staff positions
»    Canadian Afghanistan Solidarity Committee (Founding Member)
»    Iraq Veterans Against the War (Veteran and National Media Team Member)
       o    Led media outreach for Winter Soldier Europe in March 2009
»    Canadian Association of Journalists /Global Radio News / ZUMA Press (Member Reporter)
»    Africa Village Project / Trei Frati Patati / IASIMUN (Webmaster)



LANGUAGES:

»    English (Fluent)
»    Romanian (Advanced)
»    Spanish (Conversational)