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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
Contributing Author A San Francisco-based writers collective pioneering a collaborative approach to publishing.
Employee #2 A Barcelona-based start-up
producing multimedia narratives, travel guides, and classroom-friendly discussion
materials. 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. 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. 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:
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