PORTFOLIO
About Anastassia Kostin
Journalism
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I am fascinated by the spectrum of human life. I wish to portray the true side of individuals and groups that make up and contribute to our communities — their culture, music, art, fashion, etc. which I believe are needed to capture the essence of a story. I yearn for stories that go beyond surface-level, preferring hard news reporting, investigative articles and solutions journalism.
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At the same time, I am taken aback by the bravery of journalists that risk their lives to protest against injustice. I strongly believe in the SPJ Code of Ethics' "Seek truth and report it" and I intend to rely information to audiences that is reliable and of high quality.
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Writing for weekly and once-a-semester publications, including Currents Magazine, Special Edition: Drugs and the Life and Arts section for the Pepperdine Graphic has given be the experience to cover everything from global to local issues with empathy and objectivity.
International Relations
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From an early age I've had an inclination towards social activism. My curiosity and interest in the complexity of human nature made me choose International Studies, instead of a more predictable academic endeavor. My passion, intellectual curiosity, and tenacity have aided me in identifying problems within my community and working to solve them. I accomplished this through education of the student body through panels and speakers, fundraising for agricultural and educational programs, advocacy for undocumented, homeless and underserved populations, and research of undergoing conflicts in Israel and Palestine, China and South America
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I am working on acquiring knowledge and skills to work in the humanitarian/international field in order to help vulnerable populations. I anticipate work in an area like analysis of policy, development programs and cross-cultural relations. Through this, I aim to learn more about pro-active efforts to ensure long-term peace and diplomatic relations, but also delve deeper into the complexity of advancing our national interests while respecting the agendas of other countries.
Personal
I'm a 7 on the Enneagram.
I love pennyboarding,
adventure,
matcha anything,
watching "Nathan For You,"
pastel pink,
thrift shopping,
window shopping,
getting lost in foreign
countries,
running outside to
see the sunset,
visiting animal shelters
for fun,
learning languages,
going to music festivals,
and
driving in my '06 Audi
convertible down Pacific
Coast Highway.
My Latest Projects
Portraits of Peacemaking Initiative
Weekly Newsletter for Shanghai Students
Started as a personal passion project, based on Humans of NY, with the goal of inspiring people to take up the difficult work of peacemaking (link above).
To keep students informed about local events as well as facilitated communication between leadership committee, faculty and students, I created a weekly
newsletter in which I wrote articles and
provided my own photos that encompassed
Chinese culture (link above to example).
Life and Arts/Perspectives Writer for
the Pepperdine Graphic
I wrote weekly articles and conducted research to help provide factual statistics to student body. I conducted interviews with students and faculty to highlight less prominent cultures and communities at Pepperdine and created page layouts in InDesign and edited photos & videos on Lightroom and Adobe Premiere (link to articles above).
anastassiakostin@yahoo.com | 253-232-2201