PRESIDENT : MARIA SANDOVAL
Cat Sandoval is a NYC video journalist and an entrepreneur. She is a one woman-bandit who shoots, edits, produces and reports on online and on tv. You can catch her on the web at the New York Post and on air at RCN’s Channel 53 EbruTV News. She is a proud freelancer and business owner of production company Frustrated Journalist. Cat’s not so frustrated anymore, she finds her motivation through stories she has yet to uncover, people she has yet to interview, or adventures that have yet to take her breath away.
What she brings to AAJA-NY is dedication and heart. She wants to provide opportunities to fellow journalists, more specifically freelancers, via job listings and workshops to help strengthen their skills. Cat wants to inspire other freelance journalists to take their story and own it, to be their own boss and claim it. For more, go to www.mcatsandoval.com.
VICE PRESIDENT: BEA HUNDAL
Bea Hundal is a broadcast journalist who has worked at BBC World TV, BBC World Service Radio, Associated Press Television News, Al Jazeera English and for ABC’s Good Morning America. She has also worked as a drive-time radio reporter and presenter for a commercial radio station in London. Her first job as a broadcaster was as a field
reporter and host for a national entertainment show in the US. Bea co-produced the
award-winning documentary “March 22nd”.
Currently based in NYC, Bea works as a freelance news correspondent and anchor.
Keep up with Bea daily by following her on Twitter @beahundal, Facebook.com/
BeaHundalReports and by visiting her website at www.beahundal.com.
VICE PRESIDENT: BAO ONG
Bao Ong got his first taste of journalism working on the student project at the 2003 AAJA national convention in San Diego, Calif. He is now a freelance writer who often writes about food and travel. A regular contributor to The New York Times, he’s done everything from writing about cab drivers ripping off passengers to developing watermelon recipes for the Dining section. Originally from Minnesota, Bao worked at the St. Paul Pioneer Press for a few years before moving to New York to attend the French Culinary Institute. He also graduated from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. You can follow him on Twitter: @baohaus.
TREASURER: CHRIS CHIANG
Charles Christopher Chiang has been the treasurer of the New York chapter of the AAJAsince 2007. He has worked in finance at various media companies such as Dow Jones,DC Comics, Time Inc. and Channel One. He is an independent business consultant.
SECRETARY: PHILIP YAM
Philip Yam is the managing editor, online, for Scientific American, responsible for the overall digital content as it appears on the Web site and mobile devices, as well as other digital editorial products. He cut his journalism teeth as a reporter for the Cornell Daily Sun before taking on roles at Scientific American as a copy editor, features editor specializing in physics and then as news editor. A graduate of AAJA’s 2012 Executive Leadership Program, he is also the author of the 2003 book The Pathological Protein: Mad Cow, Chronic Wasting, and Other Deadly Prion Diseases, which he should have named “Cannibalism’s Revenge,” but oh well. Follow him on Twitter @philipyam
NATIONAL GOVERNING BOARD MEMBER: SITAL PATEL
Sital S. Patel is a reporter at MarketWatch, covering Wall Street and financial services, based in New York. Prior to joining MarketWatch, Sital worked as a producer, reporter, researcher for Fox Business Network where she has covered a broad range of financial stories including different aspects of Wall St, earnings, the stock market and politics.
NATIONAL GOVERNING BOARD MEMBER: BROOKE CAMP
Brooke Camp joined NBCUniversal in 2012 as the Talent Acquisitions Leader for News and Digital. Her team oversees the recruitment efforts for the news group (NBC news, msnbc, CNBC and nbcnews.com), NBCU Digital (DailyCandy and Fandango) and the NBC O&O stations across the country. Brooke is the project leader for the NBCU talent acquisitions diversity committee and a board member of NBCU’s APA Affinity group. Prior to joining NBC, Brooke was the senior editorial recruiter for CNN at TBS Inc. since 2006 and has helped over 500 journalists find careers in our industry. Brooke currently serves on the AAJA Governing board and is the 2013 co-convention Chair for the AAJA National Convention in NYC.
MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE CHAIR: MICHELLE UDEM
Michelle Udem is a journalist specializing in environmental and urban development topics. Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Michelle moved to New York in 2010 following graduation from Case Western Reserve University.In New York City, Michelle interned at NBC’s Nightly News with Brian Williams, worked on CNBC’s Mad Money with Jim Cramer, and at the nonprofit organization Friends of the High Line in outreach and fundraising. Michelle is currently focusing on freelance writing on urban and environmental topics for media organizations such as HGTV Online. Twitter: @mudem.
SOCIAL MEDIA COMMITTEE CHAIR: JOY ABELLA
Joy Abella is a Director of Social Media and Online Communications at Lumentus, a small marketing communications agency focusing on B2B clients you’ve likely never heard of (unless you’re in oil & gas or pharma outsourcing). She was at Burson-Marsteller for more than a decade and worked on launching the National World War II Memorial, announcing the new color of money from U.S. Treasury, establishing LG appliances in the US, and producing PGA TOUR golf events for Transitions Optical. She started out in publishing as a women’s fiction editor at Loveswept, acquiring titles and working closely with authors to develop manuscripts.
Born in Chicago, raised in NC, Joy considers herself a New Yorker, through and through. Follow her on @joyabella.
WEBMASTER: EMILY TAN
Emily Tan is a freelance writer, photographer and web producer based in Jersey City, N.J. She covers all things women, pop culture, music and technology. She’s been published in the Seattle Times, AOL Music, Lemondop, CMJ, Spinner, Noisecreep, PopEater, Crushable. Currently Emily contributes to various sites and publications in the U.S. and U.K. including The Line of Best Fit, Idolator, Village Voice and TheDrop.fm. Find her on emilyvtan.com and follow her @cessemi.