In September 2023, I relocated to the United States to pursue graduate studies in the Big Apple, New York City. The move was intentional. After years in international newsrooms reporting on elections, security policy, and global affairs, I found myself increasingly curious about something deeper than storytelling. I wanted to understand how media products are built, sustained, and scaled.
My interest had evolved from reporting the news to shaping how audiences experience it.
Graduate school became a turning point. I immersed myself in audience engagement strategy, content curation systems, and media innovation frameworks. I began asking new questions. Not just What is the story? but who is this for? How does it travel? Why does it resonate? What makes it sustainable?
One defining experience was an innovative course in product development from concept to launch led by Elizabeth Spiers, founding editor of Gawker. The class reframed my understanding of media. We dissected product lifecycles, user journeys, positioning strategies, and editorial value propositions. I began to see journalism not only as a public service but as a product ecosystem that requires iteration, clarity, and audience alignment.
That shift changed how I think.
My first project was a prompting chatbot (MVP) called TIPP Learning . A bot that generates a structured, hierarchical guide for crafting an effective prompt.
And the concept presentation.
I also dabbled into audience and community building through creation of a newsletter product via the tool, Substack. We measured engagement and experimented with push notifications.
My background in multimedia reporting gave me instincts for narrative and credibility. My work at Twitter strengthened my understanding of platform dynamics and curation architecture. At AFP and Reuters, I learned the discipline of speed, accuracy, and global coordination. In New York, I added something new: structured product thinking.
I now approach media at the intersection of storytelling, strategy, and systems.
Relocating was not just a geographic move. It was a strategic pivot. It marked my transition from being solely a journalist covering institutions to becoming a media strategist interested in building them.
And that evolution continues.