Kristine Liao Profile

Northwestern University alum Kristine Liao had lived in Canada, China and the United States by the time she entered high school. Her travel experiences catalyzed her interest in the juncture of journalism and social justice, as well as her current position of intern editor for the organization Global Citizen.

 Liao’s passion for reporting began in middle school, when she became fascinated with photography. In college, Liao majored in journalism and international studies while working over a number of years as an editor at a plethora of news organizations (such as Audubon Magazine, GroundUp, The Daily Northwestern and BizBash). The journalist acknowledges that “Northwestern definitely gave me a lot of opportunities,” most notably her Journalism Residency in South Africa.

While in South Africa, Liao worked as an editorial intern at the publication GroundUp. “I definitely found my passion for social justice reporting through GroundUp,” Liao said. In fact, the reason she applied to Global Citizen was because she found the social justice work in South Africa so fulfilling. Her experience impressed her current employer as well, said the fluent Chinese speaker. “They were definitely really impressed,” she continued, saying, “especially because Global Citizen has an office in South Africa.”

The greatest challenge Liao has faced so far has been her uncertainty about what specialty to pursue within the field of journalism. This was stressful for Liao, as she never had a “clear, set passion from the beginning.” Accordingly, selecting relevant  extracurriculars and internships in college was difficult, Liao said. Incoming journalism student Caroline Neal related to Liao’s words. “I really like how she talked about how she didn’t know what she wanted to go into,” Neal said. “I thought that was interesting to hear about.”

            Looking ahead, Liao “would like to gain more knowledge and expertise on science reporting and specifically environmental reporting.” Liao said that she is interested in science because she enjoys learning about something foreign to her while simultaneously doing what she loves as a reporter.