PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

The Bergen Record and USA TODAY Network - Woodland Park, NJ - Reporter, July 2010 to present

Specialty writer covering diversity news, civil rights, refugees, Arab and Muslim communities

  • Wrote about discrimination cases covering no-fly lists, shuttered personal and charitable bank accounts, hate crimes and policies banning and limiting refugees and immigrants. Covered rise of Muslim Americans in politics and law enforcement. 

  • Led Bergen Record’s coverage of the New York Police Department’s secret surveillance of Muslims in New Jersey. Broke news of New Jersey law enforcement’s opposition to surveillance and documented the conflict among FBI, state agencies and political offices that followed. Wrote in-depth stories about the impact surveillance had on Muslim communities. 

  • Wrote stories about Syrian Americans, including features about the divisions over the Assad regime and the increase in Syrian immigration to New Jersey after the war. Work includes hard-hitting, personal stories about the refugee crisis and resettlement.

  • Crafted feature stories on faith and culture, including the lure of the New Jersey 24-hour diner for pre-dawn meals during Ramadan, a fashionable hijabi voted best dressed in her graduating class, and a blind chef realizing his dream of going on Hajj. 

The Journal News/LoHud.com - White Plains, NY Reporter - December 2003 to July 2010

  • Covered Yonkers and Mount Vernon city halls and community news. Wrote about the growth of Ecuavolley courts, the trend of $2-per-dance bars popular among day laborers and illegal immigration by Irish citizens via the Canadian border. Reported about veterans, including their struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder and their return to college.

The Star Ledger - Newark, NJ - Reporter, May 2003 to Dec 2003    

  • Warren County reporter with a focus on the environment and land use. Wrote about the use of human waste as fertilizer, the rise of memorials on the banks of the Delaware River for drowning victims, and the efforts of one township to change zoning law to keep out families with children.

The Norwood News - Bronx, NY - Reporter, June 1999 to July 2002            

  • Covered politics, education and community news in the north Bronx. Wrote about overcrowded schools, gerrymandering and demographic changes. Performed layout of the biweekly newspaper using QuarkXPress and Photoshop.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS

New Jersey Press Association

  • Won third place for Specialty Writing Portfolio in 2023 for stories about survivors’ recollections of the 1948 Nakba, community trauma during the Israel-Hamas war, and how Arab Americans are fighting for their place in Hollywood.

  • Won third place for News Writing Portfolio in 2020 for stories about the emotional and physical toll of a violent hate crime against a Muslim woman, about families struggling to support special needs students during distance learning, and an exposé of a college administrator who kept getting jobs despite a history of sexual harassment. 

  • Won Responsible Journalism award in 2018 with two colleagues for a series of investigative stories about the financial and political practices of New Jersey charter schools linked to followers of the Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen. 

New Jersey State Bar Association Diversity Summit 2019

  • Panelist for “Media and Reporting on the Rise of Extremism” program.

Society of the Silurians Excellence in Journalism 2018 

  • Won Merit Certificate for Reporting on Minority Issues. Co-wrote stories about the death of Salvadoran detainee Carlos Mejia-Bonilla following critical medical mistakes at the Hudson County Jail. The story resulted in a public outcry and dismissal of two members of the jail’s medical staff.  

Jim Murray Memorial Foundation Scholar 2002

  • Won journalism scholarship for editorial piece about reporting ethics and displays of patriotism in newsrooms after the Sept. 11 attacks.

EDUCATION

Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism - New York, NY - 2002 to 2003
Master of Science in Journalism. Wrote master’s thesis about the controversial use of batterer intervention programs as a resolution in domestic violence cases. Reporting included interviews with men enrolled in programs and their partners and first-hand observations of court proceedings and intervention programs.

Fordham University - Bronx, NY - 1993 to 1997

Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with coursework in U.S. political economy, Islamic political thought, Central American politics, peace and justice studies and newswriting.