|
bio
Find me on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn
In a nutshell
I am an award-winning journalist,
author, and multimedia producer with nearly 20 years of reporting, writing,
editing, travel, and trial-and-error experience. I partner with media,
non-profit, and corporate organizations to uncover and champion stories people
want to read, hear, or watch. I deliver high-quality content on time and on
target.
My approach to life, work, and nearly everything else
Go. Observe. Ask. Listen. Help.
Share. Envision. Collaborate. Create. Reflect. Move forward. Begin again.
Current gigs worth noting
Townsend 11
Contributing Author
A San Francisco-based writers collective pioneering a collaborative approach to publishing.
ObjectivaMedia
Employee #2
A Barcelona-based start-up
producing multimedia narratives, travel guides, and classroom-friendly discussion
materials.
Worldreader
Communications and Media Assistant
A non-profit organization
cultivating a culture of reading in emerging countries and delivering a library
of electronic books via e-readers.
World Pulse
Listener and Midwife for Voices of
Our Future
A program providing new media and
citizen journalism training and empowering grassroots women leaders to share
their stories.
EBNonline
Contributing Editor, Logical Link column
An online publication focused on
global supply chain trends in the high-tech industry.
The Back Story
True story: I got into journalism
because I couldn't survive the first week of calculus as a first-year student
at Rutgers University. I realized then and there I wasn't really a math person.
I was definitely more a words person. I sat outside the registrar's office, and
flipped through the course catalog looking for a replacement class. I stumbled
onto the Journalism 101. It sounded like an important way to give a voice to voices unheard, and tell stories often left untold. It sounded fun. I had nothing to lose. I sold my math
book, and stepped into a vague notion of what I wanted to be when I grew up.
Since that fateful day, my
storytelling skills have evolved in many ways. I cut my teeth at a small daily
newspaper in New Jersey where I started out on the obituary desk and moved on
to local news, politics, schools, crime, urban development, tax levies, and
everything else affecting people's day-to-day lives. I headed to New York City where
I learned to read corporate balance sheets while interviewing international
grocery executives. A short time later, I packed up my little red car and headed to San
Francisco. In Silicon Valley, I developed a niche following supply chain trends
in the electronics and high-tech industries. I frequently covered companies
such as Intel, HP, Dell, Apple, Palm, Samsung, and other tech giants.
In 2003, I went in a completely
different direction: I got lost traveling. I took time off to wander alone,
study languages, persuade grandmothers to hand-off old family recipes, and see
old things in new ways. When I returned, I opted to stay freelance. I didn't
want to ask a boss for permission to grab my backpack and leave on a whim. Travel became as high a priority as earning a paycheck.
A few years ago, I relocated to
Barcelona where I artfully butcher two other languages, Catalan and Spanish. I
have written and edited many articles and essays for various travel,
technology, business, and corporate in-house publications.
As life often spins us forward one
way or another, I've taken to following along, both fashioning opportunities to
push me ahead professionally and personally and pausing to lend a hand to
others. Here's a bit on that. I'm co-creating a multimedia company focused on
showing compelling stories through still photos, voice, and video. I've team up with fellow writers to
produce an series of heartfelt and engaging electronic anthologies. I'm drawn to help empower
women and encourage them to find their own voices. I'm also collaborating with
a social enterprise that's putting thousands of electronic books into the hands
of students and teachers around the world.
Yes, I'm always plowing away,
creating, and recreating my life, my work, and myself. It's like the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu once
muttered, "An ant on the move does more than a dozing ox."
Thanks for reading. I sincerely
look forward to connecting with you.
Want more?
For the more formal version of my
life, please request a resume via jenn [at] jenniferbaljko.com. There will eventually be a PDF of my resume pasted here, but for now you can jump over to my LinkedIn profile for a historical overview (yes, I know it also needs updating, too. Getting to it soon.)
Please visit articles for samples of my work
For additional clips, please email
me at jenn[at]jenniferbaljko.com
What others say: “I have worked with Jenn Baljko for several
years on multiple writing projects. She is a first-class writer and editor.
Whether it’s developing new content for printed materials or a whitepaper or
providing editing assistance with web content, Jenn has the skills to adapt and
come up with great content that is both concise and compelling. She has always
been extremely collaborative and responsive (regardless of where she may be in
the world…) and takes an approach to each writing project to truly understand
the subject matter from the outset and create a quality end product focused on
the target audience. I am also always amazed by how quickly Jenn turns around
projects. Jenn is very pleasant to work with and I have recommended her to
several colleagues.” - Will Milano, Vice President of Marketing, Forum Corp. “I’ve been working with Jenn since 2007 and
have consistently found her to be top-notch. She doesn’t just write—she
does extensive background research to ensure she’s fully informed on the
subject at hand. Moreover, she is extremely fast, producing copy in half the
time of other writers I’ve worked with. And she’s 100% reliable: I’ve
never had to worry she wouldn’t deliver on time.” - Julia Heskel, Publications Executive Editor, PRTM “Jennifer is a very talented writer and
photographer who contributed travel pieces on Northern Italy, the Greek
islands, and Mongolia to Metropolis magazine (www.metropolis.co.jp). She always
met deadlines and was great about replying to questions. Additionally, Jennifer
is always friendly and polite, and a real pleasure to work with.” - Beau Miller, Former Editor, Metropolis Magazine “Jennifer and I worked together on the launch
of Work.com, a site that contained a number of "how-to" articles
designed to help entrepreneurs better run their business. In addition to always
supplying top-notch work, her stories were always on time and required a very
minimal amount of editing.” Top qualities: Great Results, Expert, On Time - Cyrus Afzali, Founder, Astoria Communication
|