Meet the LoJo team
Joyce Chang
Although originally from Alabama, Joyce is no stranger to Illinois winters, having studied advertising and sociology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. After college, she spent several years in Los Angeles, working in public relations for toy and home appliance companies. When not in class, Joyce enjoys tennis, salsa dancing and jewelry-making. Her work has been published by UPI.com, the Daily Herald, Santa Monica Daily Press and daily local newspapers.
Ki Mae Heussner
After working for several years in the public, non-profit and private sectors, including for a U.S. senator and Lifetime Television, Ki Mae came to Medill to study new approaches to journalism and mass communication. Her work has been published in Time Out Chicago, the Chicago Journal, the Daily Herald and other local daily papers. Earlier this year, she helped cover Malaysia’s general elections for Malaysiakini, a pioneering, independent online news outlet based in Kuala Lumpur. Ki Mae received a bachelor’s degree in English from Dartmouth College.
Amy Lee
Amy Lee is a veteran newspaper reporter and new media graduate student. Amy came to Medill after logging seven years as a political reporter at The Detroit News. She’s also worked professionally at the Times Herald in Port Huron, Mich. and has held internships at The Lansing State Journal and The Saginaw News. Amy’s primary research interest is the application of emerging media technology with traditional storytelling techniques to create an informative and multi-layered user-controlled experience. Amy is also a 2007-2008 recipient of the McCormick Tribune Leadership Scholarship.
Hope Needles
Hope graduated from The George Washington University in December of 2007, with a BA in International Affairs. While living in Washington, DC, she interned for NPR, Dateline NBC, Fox News Channel and The Public Education Center. She is currently in the new media track at Medill and recently completed a residency for the BBC in London. Her interests include documentary filmmaking, video editing and reading about the latest trends in online media production.
Hilary Powell
Hilary recently received her bachelor’s degree in Broadcast Journalism from Medill and is now pursuing a master’s degree in New Media. She has reported for several television stations, including WGEM-TV, WLFI and Fox 59 in Indianapolis. During her undergraduate days, a documentary Hilary created with several other Medill students allowed her to explore gentrification, displacement and low-income housing issues in the Cabrini-Green housing project in Chicago. She has contributed her storytelling efforts to the Medill News Service, Good Morning America and several other Chicago-based publications. Her work has been honored by the Society of Professional Journalists and the Broadcast Educator’s Association.
Satta Sarmah
As a new media graduate student at Medill, Satta is focused on learning innovative ways to present journalism to the public. Before coming to Medill, Satta attended Boston University and received a bachelor’s degree in Journalism, with a concentration in Magazine Journalism. She has interned for the London bureau of CBS News, Working Mother Magazine, Columbia Journalism Review, Teen Voices Magazine and Latino University Magazine. Satta’s work has also appeared in Chicago-area newspapers, such as the Chicago Defender, the Chicago Journal, Austin Weekly News and the Times of Northwest Indiana. Her goal is to work as a multimedia journalist, doing international reporting for a major news outlet. Satta also hopes to eventually own a media company that uses innovative approaches – online and in print – to tell the stories of people whom mainstream media outlets often overlook.
Rich Gordon, Director of Digital Technology in Education and Associate Professor, Medill School of Journalism
Team LoJo’s instructor for this project, Gordon spent 15 years as a reporter and editor at The Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch, The Palm Beach (Fla.) Post and The Miami Herald. Along the way, he discovered the joys of computer-assisted reporting and helped spread the gospel of CAR tools to journalists through Investigative Reporters and Editors seminars and conferences. In 1995, he became employee No. 1 for The Herald’s new media division, which he led for four years. He joined the Medill faculty in January 2000.
Return to home page
