Ben Sales

Benjamin Sales, 25, covers the Williamsburg Houses in Brooklyn. Ben grew up in the suburb of Northbrook, Illinois and attended Ida Crown Jewish Academy. There he took on censorship of the school’s library and newspaper, beginning a tradition of upholding the highest ethical standards of journalism.

After high school, Ben spent a year in Israel studying Jewish law at a yeshiva, and Hebrew in an elite class. He then began college at Washington University in St. Louis—graduating in 2009—where he continued to be active in journalism and Jewish studies. In addition to running the weekly Jewish prayer service on campus, Sales majored in history and completed a thesis project on Machiavelli. He was also the news editor of the school’s newspaper, also working as a reporter and penning a weekly romance column. Additionally, Ben coordinated coverage of the 2008 vice presidential debate that came to Washington University.

Upon completing college, Ben ran New Voices Magazine, a national publication (which still exists online) targeted towards issues in the Jewish campus community. Sales continued to work as a freelance journalist in New York, writing for Jewish Daily Forward, Crain’s New York Business, New York Jewish Week, Moment Magazine, and the Jerusalem Post, among others.

Now an M.S. candidate in the magazine concentration at the Columbia Journalism School, Ben notes himself as a Chicago Cubs fan, continues to be very active with Judaism, and is engaged to be married to his fiancee, Rachel, in December 2011.

You can follow Ben Sales on Twitter at @benjaminsales.