Photo credit: Shani Hadjian
I’I'm an award-winning journalist and writer who was born in Kuwait and grew up in Egypt and the U.S.
I've worked as a staff editor for Vox and Al Jazeera, and as a contract editor for The New Republic and other publications. I've developed editorial strategy and guidelines, edited breaking news coverage, newsletters, explainers, features, and investigations, and commissioned work from dozens of freelancers around the globe.
I also write about climate, energy, technology, politics and books. My work has appeared in publications like Bloomberg Businessweek, The Atlantic, The Nation, The Guardian, The New Republic, Inside Climate News, The Paris Review Daily, Guernica, The Los Angeles Review of Books and elsewhere. I've worked or reported in the U.S., Egypt, Italy, the UAE and Qatar, and my articles have been taught in graduate seminars and referenced in books on human rights and foreign policy. I've written about everything from the role of art in times of war and Israel's elections to the history of electroconvulsive therapy and data centers in the Midwest.
In addition to writing and editing, I've been a planning producer and a senior engagement producer. I've established workflows and coordinated news coverage with video and web text teams in international newsrooms across time zones and platforms. I've hired and trained editors, writers, and social media managers, produced viral videos, and edited graphics. I've written corporate reports, technical references guides, and blog posts, and conducted desk research and interviews with politicians and industry analysts for nonprofits.
I attended the University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism where I received a FLAS grant, a Critical Language Scholarship and a Gates Foundation Reporting Fellowship and studied Arabic at the American University of Cairo. While there, I covered the 2013 military coup and aftermath, and interviewed human rights defenders and protesters. Before I became a journalist I worked in the nonprofit world, focusing on education. I've volunteered with organizations like the International Rescue Committee and Refugee Transitions.
I'm also a fiction writer, and I earned my MFA from The New School in 2024. I've attended the Bread Loaf Environmental Writers' Conference and the Sewanee Writers' Conference, and worked as a reader for the literary magazine A Public Space.
For editing, writing, research, translation or other freelance assignments, contact me: alexiadanielleunderwood at gmail.com