2011 Students

(Twitter handles in parentheses)

Rachel Agana (@RachelAgana) is a recent graduate of the University of California, Davis, hailing from the San Francisco Bay Area. Currently, she is one of 16 official bloggers for MYX TV, the only nationally distributed Asian American music and entertainment channel. Her love of photography and drive to learn other storytelling mediums lead to her work as an intern for University Communications, the founder of the I Live UCD blog for the Division of Student Affairs, and the first Online Managing Editor for AggieTV. Each of these self-initiated experiences garnered her attention to be recognized as a Campus Celebrity on HerCampus. She is honored to be part of the Voices team and eager to hone her multimedia skills with like-minded peers and professional mentors. See her work at RachelAgana.com.

Frank Bi (@frankiebi) is a third-year undergraduate journalism and computer science student at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. Currently a columnist at the Minnesota Daily, Frank was formerly the science/technology beat reporter. He has covered stories ranging from nuclear energy policy to the search for dark matter in northern Minnesota. He has also covered policy for the Daily, one of the largest campus newspapers in the country. Frank also works as a writer for his school’s College of Science and Engineering. With an interest in computer-assisted reporting, he hopes his degree in computer science will assist him in writing applications to help future journalists. View his work at FrankBi.com.

Tong Gao (Michelle) (@michelletonggao) is a junior majoring in Broadcast Journalism at the University of Missouri- Columbia. Michelle is particularly fascinated with journalism and has been taking part in many activities in this area since high school. Michelle is a Chinese news anchor at Newsy Multisource Video News Analysis. She has been interning at American Copy Editors Society (ACES) since September 2010. This year, Michelle was elected to be the president of FACSS, which serves as the Chinese student union of the university; also as the only student board member at the Chinese association in Columbia. She works as a Business Consultant at Capital Business Development Associates for America-China business, creating strategic communication projects with my journalistic skills and promoting cross cultural communications in business field. Michelle wants to be part of the VOICES because of the access it provides to the news training opportunities.

Dan Hill (@nudhill) is an undergraduate journalism student at Northwestern University with a minor in computer science. A Sacramento native, Hill worked with the Sacramento Bee as a sports department intern and created videos for local NBC affiliate KCRA. As a student at the Medill School of Journalism, Hill has written and served as an editor for the campus newspaper and contributed multimedia projects on Chicago subjects ranging from municipal pensions to immigration. Hill is an alumnus of AAJA’s J Camp 2008 in Chicago and credits the experience for his interest in computer-assisted reporting and urban issues. You can see his work at DanHillReports.com.

Kyle Kim (@kyleykim) is a recent graduate of Whitworth University in Spokane, Wash. and an aspiring international reporter. He spent the last four years doing everything from live-tweeting reports, producing video content, packaging online audio-visual galleries, creating websites, managing content systems and writing in-depth reports. Past internships include working for the Los Angeles Daily News as a multimedia reporter and Yahoo!’s digital news desk in Sydney as a political news producer during Australia’s 2010 federal election. He is currently interning as a newswriter for Public Eye Northwest, a local news partner with The Seattle Times. When he’s not making bylines at news organizations, Kyle is blogging (kyle-kim.com) about today’s digital shift in the news industry.

Hailey Lee (@haileylee139)is a sophomore at Wellesley College in Boston, Mass. where she is concentrating in International Relations with a focus in Economics. The Minnesota native is a staff writer for Wellesley News and is active in social justice, especially focusing in anti-human trafficking measures. Lee dreams to become an investigative journalist who provides a voice for the underrepresented. As a stepping stone to this dream, Hailey looks forward to accruing much valued knowledge and experience from the 2011 AAJA Voices Project.

Jennifer Lee (@MinTeaLee) is a graduate of The Pennsylvania State University with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism, and a minor in English. At Penn State, she had the pleasure of utilizing her backpack journalism skills by creating weekly news packages for PSN-TV. She was also a co-editor for The Lion’s Roar and a writer, producer, and reporter for PSU’s College of ComRadio. Jennifer has had internships at WNYW-Fox 5, WOR710 News Talk Radio, and WTAJ-TV. She wants to make a career out of news reporting, and is excited to be a part of this year’s Convention News Project where she hopes to gain more experience telling stories in multiple mediums.

Lisa Lee was born and raised in Los Angeles and is currently a student at UC Berkeley double majoring in Media Studies (Mass Communications) and Environmental Science Policy Management. She is a reporter for CALTV, UC Berkeley’s online TV station Currently, Lisa is a news intern at ABC7 in Los Angeles. Lisa is excited to participate in AAJA’s Voices because of her interest in journalism and the multi-faceted ways in which the media is rapidly transforming. After interviewing an Asian American spoken word poet, Lisa was inspired to delve deeper into the matter of marginalized narratives and how they can be more prominently voiced in today’s media. She believes AAJA’s Voices is a great platform to practice and explore mobile journalism. Lisa hopes that as a multimedia journalist for Voices, she will be able to widen the perspectives of others while gaining new perspective as she pursues a future career in broadcast journalism.

Yimou Lee (@YimouLee) is a graduate student from the University of Texas at Austin. He has been studying Print Journalism with focuses on Digital Storytelling and Marketing. Born and raised in Taiwan, where he was double majoring Sociology and Journalism at National Chengchi University, he is a Taiwanese at heart but aspires to experience the world with his pen and camera as a foreign correspondent. He is currently working as an editor and translator for Business Next Magazine, a multimedia intern for NPR affiliate KUT.org, and a radio host for Community Radio Station at Austin. He had experiences in newspaper, online media and radio station as a reporter, producer, anchor, DJ, editor and manager. Oh, he also once served as a second lieutenant for the Taiwanese military police. His future career goal is to be a foreign correspondent and cover social issues and problems that have developed within the emerging Greater China Area. He thinks Voices will be a great opportunity to exchange ideas with fellow journalists from all over the country.

Kay Nguyen (@kaynguyen) is a rising senior pursuing degrees in journalism and political science at Oakland University in Rochester, Mich. She is a summer 2011 Chips Quinn Scholar and spent the summer as an editorial writing intern at The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Ky. Nguyen is the current editor-in-chief of The Oakland Post, Oakland’s student newspaper, and is involved with the campus radio and television stations. She served as editor for the 2010-11 school year and was previously a reporter and campus news editor. She has held internships at Hour Detroit Magazine, The Oakland Press (Pontiac, Mich.) and WJR Radio in Detroit. Nguyen was also an editorial intern (Summer 2009) at FierceMarkets Publications in Washington, D.C., where she also attended Institute on Political Journalism at Georgetown University. She hopes to learn more about journalism and hometown through participating in Voices.

Holly Pablo’s (@hollypablo) fascination with words began in the sixth grade, when she began recording her thoughts into diaries. This love for writing led her to discover her greatest passion: journalism. She is entering her senior year studying Journalism with a minor in Psychology at San Diego State University, where she currently serves as a news reporter for The Daily Aztec and treasurer of the Society of Professional Journalists. Prior to transferring from Contra Costa College, she was a staff writer, news editor and editor-in-chief of The Advocate. With three years of college newspaper experience under her belt, Holly is determined to expand her arsenal of skills and become a journalistic chameleon. This summer she explored the world of broadcast by interning with KUSI News and this fall, she will be working with KCR College Radio. She’s excited to dive into multimedia through AAJA Voices and looks forward to meeting and working with passionate journalists. After graduating, Holly hopes to land a job back home in the San Francisco Bay Area as a community journalist while she ponders the possibility of graduate schools.

Noriko Shiota-Slusser (@nshiota) is currently studying photojournalism at City College of San Francisco. She is originally from Japan, and came to U.S. in attempts to further her education. She has a degree in Communication Technologies with a Graphic Communication / imaging emphasis from University of Wisconsin – Platteville. When she moved to San Francisco, she had an opportunity to work for a newspaper as a graphic designer. That is when she was first drawn into the journalism industry. She now writes for Bayspo, a Japanese-language weekly paper based in San Francisco as well as volunteers as a photographer for Nichi Bei Weekly, a Japanese American newspaper based in San Francisco. One of her growing aspirations has become helping the local Japanese American community stay alive and grow in the future through photography. Also, she would like to cater inspiring stories to people in Japan. She is excited to learn the use of different multimedia methods used in the journalism industry from professionals and other students through this opportunity.

Frank Shyong (@frankshyong) is an intern reporter at the Orange County Register. He was born in Michigan, raised in Tennessee, and educated in Los Angeles. At UCLA, he studied economics and spent too much time at the offices of the Daily Bruin, where he wrote for A&E, News, Opinion and the editorial board and slaved at the copy desk. He has reported for publications such as the Taipei Times, The Nashville City Paper, Patch.com and Entertainment Weekly. He’s excited to join the Voices project because he loves to see what talented people can do when they get together. He’s enthusiastic about the possibilities afforded by new technologies but he believes the future of journalism rests on imaginative, principled storytelling no matter the medium. In his spare time, he enjoys ethnic food, exploring Los Angeles, and HBO’s The Wire. His parents are Taiwanese immigrants, and they taught him everything he needs to know about the world: use coupons, no excuses, and don’t take no for an answer.

Maya Sugarman (@mlsugarman) is a photojournalist who graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles in June with a bachelor’s degree in art. Currently, she is a summer photojournalism intern at the Los Angeles Daily News and a freelance photographer for the Orange County Register. While at UCLA, Maya was a photo editor and senior staff photographer at the Daily Bruin, and also dabbled in news writing, radio reporting, radio broadcast engineering, multimedia and copy editing. In 2010, Maya also had experience photographing and reporting abroad in Yaounde, Cameroon, part of a year-long multimedia project funded through the Bridget O’Brien Scholarship. She is excited to gain more multimedia experience, learn from extremely knowledgable professionals, and meet many new journalist friends at AAJA Voices! You can view her work at www.mayasugarman.com.

James Tensuan (@jtensuan) just graduated from St. Francis High School in Mountain View, Calif., and will be attending San Jose State University in the fall. In high school, he was an intern at the Mountain View Voice and the Almanac, is currently covering the Peninsula for Patch. He applied for Voices to learn more about the journalism industry and network with other journalist around the country. Upon leaving, he hopes to become more than just a photographer, and more familiar with the world of multimedia.

Jessie Tseng (@jesst220) is a recent graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, with a Bachelor’s degree in English and a minor in Interdisciplinary Human Rights. Once upon a time, she wanted to go to law school, but instead spent the last four years in the newsroom at the Daily Californian, Cal’s independent student newspaper. As Design Editor for the Daily Californian, Jessie has won regional awards for her designs and has interned for HarperCollinsPublishers and the San Francisco Chronicle.

Kiali Wong (@KialiWong) is a senior at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. After transferring to Cronkite her junior year, Kiali found an open door at The Arizona Republic. While working there as a breaking news reporter, she also built her portfolio with the publication of more in-depth stories. Kiali remained at the Republic this summer as part of the online management team for azcentral.com. Kiali’s journalistic ambitions were largely influenced by her parents’ recent three-year term in China. This time abroad was captivating and shaped Kiali’s aim to return as a dynamic foreign correspondent. She is eager to work amid the innovative environment that marks AAJA’s Voices program, and she is especially excited to work with the editors and staff.

Liberty Zabala (@libertyzabala) is a senior at California State University, Northridge majoring in journalism with collateral in political science. Born and raised in Eagle Rock, CA to print journalist, Laurencio V. Zabala Jr., Liberty began her journalism career hanging out with her dad and playing with her little sister in the newsroom. In high school, she began writing for her campus paper quickly becoming managing editor. She has held several broadcast internships including Fox News Channel, Fox Sports Net, KABC and NBC Nightly News. She has written for multiple publications including the L.A. Youth, Saturday Night Magazine and University Link Magazine, where she was featured as the guest editor within her first month at ULM. She has conducted celebrity interviews from actress Alexa Vega to musician Kevin Rudolf to world champion boxer Manny Pacquiao. She has anchored for KCSN’s 30-minute radio newscast called the “Evening Update” and is currently reporting for Garden Grove TV3. She serves as the president of the CSUN chapter of Radio Television Digital News Association. She also serves as a board director for the L.A. chapter of AAJA. Her goal is to become an international correspondent. For samples of her work, please visit www.libertyzabala.com.

Jie Jenny Zou is a senior at Stony Brook University double majoring in multimedia journalism and international affairs. The Brooklyn native is currently covering technology as an intern for the Chronicle of Higher Education in Washington, D.C. and managing a major site overhaul as the executive editor of the student-run news site, The Stony Brook Independent (@SBINews). She has previously interned at WNBC-TV and became interested in investigative journalism after attending a conference earlier this year in Phoenix with Investigative Reporters and Editors. When she’s not shooting video, writing stories, or editing, you will most likely find her eating or cooking while watching some kind of food-related show (Go Anthony Bourdain!). Her ideal job would be a fantasy hybrid between The New York Times, ProPublica, and Mediastorm. You can view her work at www.jiejennyzou.com.