Hello, and welcome to SarahTalaat.com!
I am a master’s student in Global Business Journalism at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, and I truly cannot think of a better time to study the world’s second-biggest economy. This opportunity to study and live in China is invaluable, and I hope to offer an exceptional level of local and economic knowledge in my future career as a business journalist.
While in China, I was published in the national English-language publication Sixth Tone, co-managed the development of a journalism project on women entrepreneurs in China, interned with the World Health Organization as a communications intern and traveled extensively.
I am a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin with a double major in journalism and psychology and a minor in Spanish. I also received a Bridging Disciplines Certificate in Media, Culture & Identities.
I believe that knowledge of psychology will greatly aid in my understanding of the people I meet, even if we do not speak the same language. My fluency in French and my proficiency in Spanish will allow me to communicate with a large percentage of the world’s population. I am also currently learning Mandarin so that I can speak and interact with Chinese people, media and sources.
Past experiences have included my role as a reporter with the Rivard Report in San Antonio, Texas (my hometown), during the summer of 2016. It’s a fast-paced non-profit news site that is shaking up the local journalism landscape. I learned many lessons about daily digital publishing and social media management and I wrote around 50 articles about the myriad of ways my hometown is changing and growing. I also enjoyed my role as a production intern with Texas Standard team at NPR affiliate KUT Austin during fall 2014 where I expanded my skills in online content creation and audio production. I interned with Austin Monthly as an editorial intern in the spring of my junior year in 2015 which proved to be invaluable as I learned the ins and outs of magazine writing and production.
These experiences in professional settings would not have been the same without the skills I learned from studying abroad in both high school and college to learn French and Spanish, and to study various cultures. I left home my junior year of high school to live in Rennes, France and learn French; I studied Spanish during the summer of 2013 in Santander, Spain; I traveled during the summer of 2015 to Vienna, Austria where I examined the historical memory of the city; and I spent five months in Santiago, Chile in fall 2015 as a university exchange student. These experiences shaped me greatly during my most formative years, and the lessons I learned by interacting with host families, new people and places, and new cultures will never leave me.
I look forward to answering any questions you have regarding my portfolio. Please head over to my contact page for further information.
Portrait by Lumiere Tintype Photography
