Anastassia Gliadkovskaya

By Merdie Nzanga

Anastassia Gliadkovskaya graduated last December from the King's College in New York City with a B.A. in Media, Culture, and the Arts and a concentration in journalism.

She finished in three and a half years, because she took college courses in high school and received credit for them.

She says she loved her experience at King's College, --a small Christian school of about 700 students, in New York City.

The college shares a building in the Financial District on Broadway with the United Federation of Teachers.

Attending King's College was not a part of the 20-year-old, L.A. native's initial plan, but she's glad it ended up that way.

"I ended up there on accident after receiving an ad from them and qualifying for a scholarship," she said.

During her freshman year at the King's College, Gliadkovskaya interned at American Spa Magazine; sophomore year, at the Daily Dot; and her junior year, at Euronews in Lyon, France, where she honed her breaking news and pitching skills.

Her senior year, she founded a chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists at the King's College.

She also served in editorial roles on her campus newspaper,  the Empire State Tribune, varying from content director of ESTv, the weekly broadcast, to opinion editor of the paper.

It was then that she received an opportunity to report on the midterm elections for the GroundTruth Project, an experience that “had me reporting in the trenches, in the pouring rain, following the story of malfunctioning voting machines in Brooklyn and what it might mean for the elections, and democracy.”

Anastassia's family is originally from Moscow. She decided to pursue journalism because she believes it is a more "stable career" than being a "fiction writer," a career she originally wanted to pursue.

"I quickly realized journalism was a much more dignified profession for me," she said. "I fell in love with facts and stories about reality."

Assistant Professor of Media, Journalism, and Entrepreneurship at the King's College, Paul Glader, described his student as a talented journalist.

"She works fast and efficient. She was one of the best faculty assistants I had, reading papers, transcribing interviews, editing papers and doing research for me," Glader said. "It is this kind of skill and discipline that will serve her well in journalism."

This summer, she will intern in D.C. at Industry Dive, a trade publication, and will attend the Stabile investigative program at Columbia Journalism School this fall.

In 10 years, she  hopes to be an investigative reporter working for the likes of ProPublica, investigating politics or health care.

Gliadkovskaya decided to join the Dow Jones News Fund program because she loves the high standards and the quality of journalists that it produces. 

On where she believes the profession could improve, Gliadkovskaya said, "I think that interacting with other citizens, especially those not educated about journalists and our profession, is extremely critical in our current political climate.”