In 2019, Business Today launched its first-ever Journalism Fellowship to provide undergraduates worldwide with the unique opportunity of publishing content for the Online Journal, which reaches thousands of students and executives from around the world, and engaging with the organization’s vast network throughout the course of the summer from June to August. This year, the program underwent major expansion, tripling its pool of applicants to nearly 170 applications internationally across six continents. In addition to cultivating a strong portfolio of written editorials and interviews, this year’s fellows will have the additional benefit of receiving professional training from award-winning journalist and professor Alan Deutschman, who is particularly well-known for his work as the Silicon Valley correspondent for Fortune 500.
We are pleased to announce that the 2020 Summer Journalism Fellows are:
Anastasiia Tokar, Minerva Schools at KGI ‘22
Ashleigh Fields, Howard University ‘23
Charlotte Ehlers, Tulane University ‘22
Dean Lee Sammanthan, University of Edinburgh ‘23
Hypatia Wu, Northwestern University ‘22
Jeremiah Thoronka, African Leadership University ‘21
Joseph Strong, University of Nottingham ‘21
Krishea Aswani, American University of Sharjah ‘20
Maryam Gamar, Northwestern University ‘22
Millie Muroi, University of Western Australia ‘20
Peyush Karel, St. Xavier’s University ‘20
Surya Suresh, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras ‘21
These twelve applicants who were ultimately selected for the Fellowship comprise an incredibly talented group of students, from rising sophomores to recent graduates (congratulations to Class of 2020 members Krishea Aswani, Millie Muroi, and Peyush Karel!), from athletes to scientists, from entrepreneurs to journalists, all across the globe. Many of the fellows are avid globetrotters and seek to learn more about the world at large, such as Hypatia Wu ‘22, who is currently based in the Middle East, attends an American university, and hails from China, or Anastasiia Tokar ‘22, who has already traveled through more than 20 countries at the age of 20. The fellows’ interests span a diverse spectrum including healthcare, energy, cybersecurity, politics, engineering, empowerment, and art. Some have taken those interests to the next level, like Jeremiah Thoronka ‘21, who in 2017 founded Optim Energy aiming to build a sustainable energy sector in Sierra Leone, or Ashleigh Fields ‘23 from Howard University, who has already self-published two books, "Caged" and "Mind over Matter." All of the fellows share a common passion for writing and all things business, and we look forward to sharing their unique insights and ideas with you through the Online Journal as they progress through the Fellowship.
On June 20th, the fellows and editors came together virtually for the first time to officially kick off the 2020 Fellowship. During the on-boarding session, Director of Content Amy Wang highlighted the rich history of the BT’s Content team and its recent successes, which included the latest issue of the annual magazine, Diversity Incubator: Accelerating the Future Talent, and its expansion into the podcasting space. President Grace Hong also joined in on the call, expressing her personal excitement for the Fellowship as its original founder in 2019. Despite the significant time zone differences, both fellows and editors alike were able to make it for the full session. To overcome the barriers of geographical separation and social distancing, this year’s editors have promoted informal spaces for networking and socializing, from office hours and one-on-one conferencing to casual coffee chats and weekly icebreaker activities.
Most recently this week, the fellows have been working on their first set of articles, collaborating closely with the editorial team to construct detailed pitches and prepare interview questions. These articles are very soon to be published in the Online Journal, so be sure to keep an eye out for them in the new few days. We are incredibly proud to welcome our Journalism fellows to the BT community and look forward to bringing their ideas directly to you this summer!