Current Fellows

2014 Fellows

DaraHeadshot DARA DENNEY

Even though Dara Denney was born in rural Ohio, she considers herself to be a New Yorker-at-large. She graduated from The City College of New York in 2013 where she pursued a B.A in Creative Writing and could never decide which language to study (she’s taken classes in Chinese, Japanese, German, French, and Latin). Her fascination of different cultures and love for hearing stories about far-off-lands propelled her to volunteer as an English tutor and conversation partner. She loved being able to connect with her fellow New Yorkers in several ways, so she also worked on projects helping prepare immigrants for the United States Citizenship Exam and she was a part of Planned Parenthood of NYC’s Advocacy Group, where she helped organize sex education workshops.

Dara believes in the power of knowledge and in the importance of becoming a global citizen.  After completing university she spent six months living in Ghana where she ran peer-mentoring-tutoring programs in rural schools outside of Kumasi. This experience showed her that implementing and encouraging creativity and personal development skills was just as important in the classroom as the standardized subjects. Her personal goal is to see that more students gain access to this kind of learning, and that they never stifle their curiosity or stop asking questions.

Dara is ecstatic to return to India (she studied abroad in Dharamsala!) and to begin teaching alongside her co-Fellows! She is even more eager to hear the young voices of Hyderabad and to learn their stories.

KarisHeadshotKARIS HUSTAD

Karis Hustad is a lifelong journalist and storytelling enthusiast whose passion for documenting this beautiful world has taken her from downtown Chicago to the Sahara Desert, and now to Hyderabad, India for The Modern Story fellowship.

Karis’s storytelling journey began at age 7 when she created her first newspaper for the other three 7-year-olds on her block (aptly named “Girlz Press”) while growing up in St. Paul, Minnesota. Though she initially dreamed of becoming a fashion magazine editor, attending a Jesuit university (Loyola University Chicago) and learning about Chicago’s socioeconomic issues turned her attention to social justice, and instilled a passion for telling stories that could enact change (or at least make people think of the world in a new way). With this in mind, she sunk her teeth any and all media, from starting a blog for college students in the city to working at a community-oriented public radio station, and volunteered at a local elementary school. Her senior year she studied journalism in Morocco – her first time leaving the United States. This experience showed her the importance of empowering local storytellers, that no language or cultural barrier is insurmountable, and that intercultural exchange is the greatest way to learn (also that couscous Fridays should be an internationally recognized holiday).

After graduating Loyola, Karis worked for The Christian Science Monitor in Boston, Massachusetts. Her work in media taught her the awe-inspiring power of journalism, the importance of amplifying under-reported stories, and the need for empowering the next generation of storytellers.

Outside of journalism, Karis is an avid reader, writer, photographer, thinker, biker, coffee drinker and Midwest defender. She is thrilled to meet the TMS fellows and students, and embark on another adventure.

NandiniHeadshotNANDINI CHANDRASEKARAN

Nandini was born in India and grew up in Bahrain. She has lived in the U.S. since 2003, when she had the opportunity to move to New York and pursue a B.A. in History at Columbia University.  Over the past ten years, she has worked on diverse projects related to education, immigrant rights, financial justice, and public health. What binds these experiences – and motivated her to earn a Master of Social Work degree in 2013 – is a commitment to the collaborative work of building an equitable, humane world.

Following her interest in education, Nandini has facilitated a mentoring program and anti-prejudice curriculum with students in New York; taught English to students aged 6-18 in Slovakia and Hungary; and organized with undocumented immigrant students for college access in Philadelphia. The creativity, resilience, and fire of young people constantly inspire her.

Pursuing a love for visual arts and media production, Nandini has taken classes in digital photography and video, applying these skills in both personal and professional projects. She is interested in the dynamics of power and resistance, particularly how these are mediated by communities’ ownership of and access to resources and technology. Her experience has taught her that that storytelling can be transformative on both individual and social levels. She can’t wait to meet, learn, and build with students, educators, community workers, and her TMS co-fellows in India!

RachelJonesRACHEL JONES

Rachel is a 21-year-old with a healthy dose of wanderlust and a distaste for sitting still too long. Four states lie between her birthplace in West Virginia and her family’s current residence in California in her geographic history. But ten formative years and a family-sized container of Old Bay Seasoning her pantry mark her as a Maryland girl. She’ll be graduating from Northwestern University in June after finishing up her Radio/Television/Film major and African American Studies minor. In her time at NU, she has worked on over 25 student film sets in positions ranging from director of photography to the girl who wraps people in coats between takes on a cold day. Between serving as the multimedia editor of a student-run fashion magazine, managing the video team for a student-run philanthropy, and developing a repertoire of stale jokes as a campus tour guide, Rachel also reserves time for discovering new music, playing the ukulele, and searching for the perfect doughnut.

After traveling to Ethiopia for a film program the summer after her sophomore year, her passion for discovering ways to marry multimedia production and social change was catalyzed, alongside her love of international living. The following summer, she held a video internship with a nonprofit that contributed to her interest in organizations that see the communities they serve as partners in their efforts for change rather than just recipients. She is unbelievably excited to serve alongside her co-fellows in Hyderabad and see the ways her different passions can merge to create an enriching experience for the students they’ll get to work with.

 

Check out the stories of our previous fellows here & on the alumni page.