Let's meet the team!
Allow us to introduce ourselves...
A warm welcome from all of us here at The Memory Project! For the next 11 weeks, we are in this together.
Each year, Columbia Journalism School offers The Memory Project class in the Spring Semester co-led by the formidable professors Michael Shapiro and James Robinson. The goal is to write and publish a book in just under 15 weeks— a massive feat. It is a narrative nonfiction writing class inspired by the not-so-simple act of memory.
To start, we each choose a photo that draws us in. A picture that sparks the question: What is the story here? We follow the stories where they lead, crafting our narrative, until it comes into focus.
Each week on Monday, this newsletter will chronicle our quest to chase memory.
Here we are: a team of 14 journalists from across the glove convening in Pulitzer Hall to collaborate on The Memory Project. Let’s meet the team!
Nikita Apte
Nikita Apte is an M.S. student at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism with an interest in business and economic reporting.
Elisabeth Campbell
Elisabeth Campbell is a print and photojournalism student with an interest in reporting on social injustice and culture.
Ayushee Roy
Ayushee Roy is a South Asian journalist pursuing a MS in Journalism from Columbia, deeply passionate about creating diversity of thought and circumstance in the newsroom. She primarily covers inequality, culture, and community news.
Claire Lazerwitz
Claire Lazerwitz is a journalist and graduate student at Columbia Journalism School. Her interests include culture writing and photojournalism. She may be reached at crl2162@columbia.edu
Junko Fukutome
Junko Fukutome is an MS student at Columbia Journalism School. She has previously had bylines in CNN from when she was in her hometown of Tokyo, Japan.
Owen Mason-Hill
Owen Mason-Hill is an M.S. degree candidate at Columbia Journalism School, covering arts, culture and entertainment.
Ailing Li
Born in China, Ailing Li is now a graduate student at Columbia Journalism School, specializing in cultural and social justice reporting.
Yushuo Wang
Yushuo Wang is a Data Journalism graduate student at Columbia Journalism School. Originally from Beijing, China, she frowns when confronting data visualization codes while long-form journalism always makes her smile.
Ayana Garcia
Ayana Garcia is an M.S. candidate at Columbia Journalism School with writing interests in animal rights, human rights, culture, and lifestyle.
Shiyu Yu
Shiyu Yu is a journalist interested in immigration and marginalized youths. She is an M.S. candidate at Columbia Journalism School.
Cecelia Puckhaber
Cecelia Puckhaber is a MS candidate at Columbia Journalism School who enjoys writing long-form nonfiction and data-driven stories.
Madeleine Cronn
Madeleine Cronn is a current M.S. student at Columbia Journalism School from Melbourne, Australia. She writes on culture, the arts, and usually finds herself drawn to social curiosities. You can reach her at mjc2346@columbia.edu or on Instagram: @maddycronn
Jessica Wong
Jessica Wong is a journalist who is interested in business and culture news. She is also a student at Columbia Journalism School.
Stephanie Rodriguez
Stephanie Rodriguez, a native New Yorker, is an M.S. student at Columbia Journalism School. Her reporting focuses on social, political, business, and economic affairs.