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
2023 Staff
Elizabeth Erb covers arts and culture for Uptown Radio. Originally from Detroit, she’s called New York home for the past seven years. In addition to her journalism work, she’s a professional actor and earned her BFA from the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater. She’s performed in New York and across the country including productions at the Shakespeare Theatre Company, D.C. and Chautauqua Theatre Company. You can find her online at elizabetherb.com or on Instagram @eerbie.
Isabelle Teare covers transportation for Uptown Radio. While she was born in Brooklyn, Isabelle was raised in the U.S. Virgin Islands. She graduated from Georgetown University in 2018 and worked in law before coming to journalism school. When it isn't freezing outside, you'll find Isabelle playing Spikeball in the park with anyone brave enough to challenge her.
Vi Tran covers education for Uptown Radio. Before coming to Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, Vi co-founded Legal Initiatives for Vietnam, an organization that runs two online newspapers, Luáºt Khoa and The Vietnamese. Vi was the editor-in-chief of The Vietnamese Magazine, an English publication covering Vietnam's law, politics, and advocacy. Vi has experience with litigation skills as she worked in small civil law firms in Menlo Park and
San Jose, California. Follow Vi on Twitter @vi_k_tran.
Valentina Zarins Martinez
Valentina Zarins Martinez covers immigration for Uptown Radio. She is originally from Caracas, Venezuela and has completed internships at companies such as CNN, The Late Show, HBO and Fox. In her free time, you can find her in line getting rush tickets for a broadway show.
Thomas Copeland
Thomas Copeland covers New York City and State Politics for Uptown Radio. Originally from Northern Ireland, Thomas worked in television production throughout his degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. He has also worked as broadcast journalist for outlets including Sky News and the BBC. Follow him on Twitter @thomasdcopeland
Hetta McFarlane
Henrietta McFarlane is a masters student at Columbia Journalism School specialising in audio and international reporting. Prior to this, Henrietta received a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Cambridge University, and covered global news as an intern for Europe-based Impakter Magazine.
Yzeppa Macias
Tricia Stortz
Yzeppa Macias covers city services for Uptown Radio. She moved to New York in 2022 after graduating from MSU Denver with her Bachelors in Journalism. Yzeppa has worked in print for two years and was features editor and reporter for the Metropolitan, MSU’s student-ran newspaper. She is passionate about photography, humanitarian and social justice issues. Her personal and published work can be found on yzeppakmacias.com.
Tricia Stortz covers Mental Health for Uptown Radio. She is from Brooklyn and has worked as a mental health counselor within several non-profit community-based organizations. She has a BA and MA in Psychology and has pivoted toward journalism to learn how storytelling can be used to disseminate social research. Outside of school and work, she likes to oil paint and practice film photography. Follow her on Twitter @TriciaStortz