Danielle Ziri

Danielle Ziri covers the Amsterdam Houses in Midtown Manhattan. Danielle is a globetrotter with a passion for writing and exploring different cultures.

Born in Israel, her family moved to the Democratic Republic of the Congo before she had even learned to say “maman.” In the midst of a Civil War, the Ziri family was evacuated by an Israeli plane and flown to safety.  After a sojourn in Israel and a stop in Sierra Leone, they settled in Gabon for the next 6 years.  Danielle quickly grew accustomed to the relaxed rhythm of life and strong family values of the country, however she never truly felt at home: “I belonged, but I always felt different.”

Moving to Paris, France at the age of 12 was a difficult transition. Everything about the so-called city of love was cold – the place, the people – and so it took her a while to acclimatize. But she did. After spending 8 years in France and graduating from High School with an International Baccalaureate diploma in 2008, her family moved back to Israel.

Upon their arrival Danielle felt at home for the first time and decided to stay. Being uprooted so frequently made her realize how important the media is in unifying and connecting the world. Her love and talent for languages (Danielle is fluent in French, Hebrew and English) and journalism inspired her to study Media and Communications at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya. She graduated in 2011, after interning with the online national Israeli newspaper Haaretz.com in Tel Aviv.

As a M.S. student at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, with a concentration in magazine journalism, Danielle hopes to hone her journalistic skills and experience life to the fullest in the city that never sleeps.

In the future, she hopes to return to Israel as a journalist and would like to show people that there is more to the world than the media portrays. She is interested in the concept of ‘branding a nation’ and revealing what the Middle East is truly like.

This is what she believes:

“People, places, friends change, but your family is always there.”

“Food is culture.”

“The day you feel you’re becoming arrogant, stop journalism.”

You can follow Danielle on Twitter @DanielleZiri.