Meet the Team
Senior staff
Dan Zedek
Faculty AdvisorDan Zedek is a Professor of the Practice at the Northeastern University School of Journalism where he leads the Media Innovation Studio. The former design director of The Boston Globe, he runs a design and content strategy studio.
April Qian
Co-EditorApril Qian is a graduate student studying Information Design and Data Visualization at Northeastern. She has written and produced content for Vermont Public Radio and her local college paper, the Middlebury Campus. She is interested in the role of data in providing narrative context and highlighting marginalized voices both in journalism and in media at large. In her free time, she enjoys binge-listening to podcasts, distance running, and peppering her cat with kisses.
Heather Wang
Co-EditorHeather Wang is a journalist who can code and calculate balance sheets. She graduated from the University of Missouri with a journalism degree, focusing on broadcasting. Before she joined Storybench, she worked for a mid-Missouri TV station as a reporter and spent her entire summer in DC doing marketing communication.
assistant editors
Namira Haris
Namira is a first-year graduate student at Northeastern University, studying Media Innovation and Data Communication. She has a background in digital marketing and has received state awards for her writing in India. Namira is passionate about storytelling and the impactful role of data in journalism and media. In her free time, she enjoys gaming and experimenting with cooking.
Marian Siljeholm
Marian Siljeholm is a grad student in Northeastern’s media innovation and data communication program. She’s worked as a digital storyteller through both photography and writing for the last decade – and still works as a freelance visual storyteller when not in classes. Check out her on insta!
Ruchika Erravandla
Ruchika Erravandla is a graduate student in the Media Innovation and Data Communication program at Northeastern. She is a Video Intern at the Council on Foreign Relations and holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Political Science.
