Sophia Ahmadi
Sophia Ahmadi covers Human Rights for Uptown Radio. She graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 2016 with a degree in French and Spanish. Before moving to New York, she worked in radio for Monocle 24 in London on its morning news show, which covered international news and business. Find her on Instagram @sophia_c_ahmadi and on Twitter @AhmadiSophia
Email: scb2190@columbia.edu
Sophia Ahmadi
Sophia Ahmadi covers Human Rights for Uptown Radio. She graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 2016 with a degree in French and Spanish. Before moving to New York, she worked in radio for Monocle 24 in London on its morning news show, which covered international news and business. Find her on Instagram @sophia_c_ahmadi and on Twitter @AhmadiSophia
Email: scb2190@columbia.edu
Cynthia Betubiza
Cynthia Betubiza is a NYC-based writer and journalist passionate about politics, labor, health equity, trans rights, the environment, social justice, and the arts. She is currently pursuing her M.S. at Columbia Journalism School, specializing in multimedia. Outside interests include Netflix cooking shows, music, movies, creative writing, anything having to do with the African continent, comedy, and podcasts that remind her that the world is still a beautiful place. Find her on Twitter @CynthiaBetubiza.
Email: cynthiabetubiza@gmail.com
Cynthia Betubiza
Cynthia Betubiza is a NYC-based writer and journalist passionate about politics, labor, health equity, trans rights, the environment, social justice, and the arts. She is currently pursuing her M.S. at Columbia Journalism School, specializing in multimedia. Outside interests include Netflix cooking shows, music, movies, creative writing, anything having to do with the African continent, comedy, and podcasts that remind her that the world is still a beautiful place. Find her on Twitter @CynthiaBetubiza.
Email: cynthiabetubiza@gmail.com
Alex Colletta
Alex Colletta covers education for Uptown Radio. Born and raised in California, Alex graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2012 with a degree in English Literature. Before coming to Columbia Journalism School, he worked in marketing at a tech company in San Diego. In his free time, Alex enjoys getting outdoors, discovering new music, and working on creative projects with friends.
You can reach him at ajc2274@columbia.edu or on Twitter: @alexcolletta.
Alex Colletta
Alex Colletta covers education for Uptown Radio. Born and raised in California, Alex graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2012 with a degree in English Literature. Before coming to Columbia Journalism School, he worked in marketing at a tech company in San Diego. In his free time, Alex enjoys getting outdoors, discovering new music, and working on creative projects with friends.
You can reach him at ajc2274@columbia.edu or on Twitter: @alexcolletta.
Sophia Ahmadi
Sophia Ahmadi covers Human Rights for Uptown Radio. She graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 2016 with a degree in French and Spanish. Before moving to New York, she worked in radio for Monocle 24 in London on its morning news show, which covered international news and business. Find her on Instagram @sophia_c_ahmadi and on Twitter @AhmadiSophia
Email: scb2190@columbia.edu
Cynthia Betubiza
Cynthia Betubiza is a NYC-based writer and journalist passionate about politics, labor, health equity, trans rights, the environment, social justice, and the arts. She is currently pursuing her M.S. at Columbia Journalism School, specializing in multimedia. Outside interests include Netflix cooking shows, music, movies, creative writing, anything having to do with the African continent, comedy, and podcasts that remind her that the world is still a beautiful place. Find her on Twitter @CynthiaBetubiza.
Email: cynthiabetubiza@gmail.com
Alex Colletta
Alex Colletta covers education for Uptown Radio. Born and raised in California, Alex graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2012 with a degree in English Literature. Before coming to Columbia Journalism School, he worked in marketing at a tech company in San Diego. In his free time, Alex enjoys getting outdoors, discovering new music, and working on creative projects with friends.
You can reach him at ajc2274@columbia.edu or on Twitter: @alexcolletta.
Sophia Ahmadi
Sophia Ahmadi covers Human Rights for Uptown Radio. She graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 2016 with a degree in French and Spanish. Before moving to New York, she worked in radio for Monocle 24 in London on its morning news show, which covered international news and business. Find her on Instagram @sophia_c_ahmadi and on Twitter @AhmadiSophia
Email: scb2190@columbia.edu
2022 Staff
Julian Abraham covers public safety for Uptown Radio. He is originally from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and spent some time working as an actor and studying criminology before going into journalism. His experience includes a few years between top 40 radio and morning show television. In his spare time, he enjoys playing the drums, meditation, fitness and comedy. His Twitter is @JulianJAbraham.
Linnea Arden Pedersen covers Transportation for Uptown Radio. While originally from Copenhagen, she has spent the last eight years in California, working in film. When she’s not making radio, Linnea can be found on a tennis court, at the peak of a mountain, or at home on the couch zipping through books. You can find her on Twitter @Linneaarden13
Kelly Canaday is a Creative Writing MFA student at Columbia University with a focus on poetry. Her work has appeared in NPR, Into the Void, and the American Journal of Poetry, among others. You can check out some of her work at https://kellybcanaday.wordpress.com/
Mark Gilchrist
Lucy Grindon
Shantel Destra
Mark Gilchrist covers business for Uptown Radio. He is a Columbia University graduate student in Strategic Communication. He has degrees in European History, World Religions, and Law. He is a member of the New York Bar. For two decades, he worked in Asia-Pacific and global media and financial communications roles in Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, Macau, Bangkok, and Singapore. He enjoys the adventure of living in New York City.
Lucy Grindon covers education for Uptown Radio. She has previously reported on religion, immigration, and culture for The National Catholic Reporter and Commonweal Magazine. She graduated in 2019 from Middlebury College, where she served as an opinion editor for the campus newspaper, hosted two radio shows, and studied history and Arabic. She loves trivia competitions, Broadway musicals, and Parcheesi.
Shantel Destra covers National Politics for Uptown Radio. She was raised in Brooklyn and remains a proud New Yorker. In her previous life, Shantel worked as a marketing strategist for three years where she ran campaigns for Fortune 500 companies. Shantel spends most of her free time listening to great audio stories and enjoys reporting on community issues, policy, and elected officials. This semester she is also interning with City & State New York working on Power Lists. She’s on Twitter @ShantelDestra.
Clara Grunnet
David Newtown
Clara-Sophia Daly
Clara Grunnet covers religion for Uptown Radio. She’s originally from Copenhagen, where she’s worked as a freelance journalist for the online media Zetland. At Columbia University Clara studies a MA in Global Thought, taking half her courses at the J-school. Her latest work includes a four episode audio-story about deep sea mining, and if you ask her about it you should prepare for a deep-sea-rant. Twitter: @clara_grunnet
David Newtown covers healthcare for Uptown Radio. He grew up in Northwestern Louisiana and moved to New York City in 2014. David studied Earth Science and Music at Columbia University and is passionate about scientific literacy. In his spare time, you can find David either playing the cello or video games. He also scrolls Twitter under his bio @davidnewtown.
Clara-Sophia Daly covers wealth and inequality for Uptown Radio. Originally from the Bay Area, she previously reported for KPFA Radio and Mission Local, both independent news outlets. A former figure skater, she now coaches ice skating at Riverbank State Park in Harlem. This semester she is also working on a documentary film about the experience of homeless single mothers raising children during the pandemic. She’s on Twitter @daly_clara.
Dave Marques
Rebekah Robinson
Emily Schutz
Dave Marques covers New York City’s intellectual and cultural life for Uptown Radio. Born and raised on Long Island, he studied political science at the University of Chicago and Freie Universität Berlin. His work has previously appeared in Current Affairs and The Drift. You can find him tending to his chili pepper plants, walking through Riverside Park, or on Twitter @DaveMarqs.
Rebekah Robinson, originally from Baltimore, covers the environment and climate for Uptown Radio. Most recently, she co-hosted and produced the ‘Dis Place podcast for Black Futures Now Toronto. Before J-school, Rebekah worked on a weekly podcast series for CIUT campus radio at the University of Toronto. She enjoys taking to the streets on her bike or in her bright yellow roller skates and the internet @rebekahelise_ on Twitter.
Emily Schutz covers arts and culture for Uptown Radio. She’s originally from South Florida where she grew up in the arts. Her work has been published in The Queens Chronicle, The Queens Eagle, Columbia News Service, and Home & Yard Magazine. Follow her on Twitter: @emily_schutz.
Eliot Schiaparelli
Sarah Yokubaitis
Eliot Schiaparelli covers New York City and State politics for Uptown Radio. She is an audio journalist who has produced work for NPR affiliate WFUV, BronxNet and Norwood News among others. She won a Gracie Award for her multimedia series about changemakers in the Bronx as well as awards from the Public Media Journalists Association and the New York State Broadcasters Association. She’s originally from Cincinnati but would like everyone to believe she’s a native New Yorker. Follow her on Twitter @eschiapa.
Sarah Yokubaitis covers technology for Uptown Radio. She started her career as a journalist at her hometown newspaper, The American Press; Sarah has also worked for The Mercury News, The Advocate, and as a local editor for Patch. She grew up on the Southern Louisiana Gulf Coast, and has a degree in Political Science from Santa Clara University. She currently lives in New York, but left her heart in San Francisco. Follow her on Twitter @sarahy57