Monica Alba

Monica Alba covers the Washington Heights development in Northern Manhattan.

She is a master’s student at Columbia Journalism School where she studies documentary film.  She graduated with honors from the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, earning her degree in broadcast journalism with minors in international relations and cinematic arts.

Monica is the co-founder and producer of the Social Issues Documentary Film Contest (SI DocFest), a film festival that requires high school students to produce short documentaries on social issues in the San Francisco Bay Area. It awards $30,000 to students, schools and nonprofits annually.

In 2010, Monica served as a Junior Fellow at the Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership & Policy, where she analyzed new business models for media and contributed research to a Federal Communications Commission study on the future of news.

She worked as a production coordinator for Chain Camera Pictures, alongside Academy Award-nominated director Kirby Dick on the political documentary Outrage. Outrage premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2009 and aired nationally on HBO.

A native of San Jose, California, Monica speaks Spanish and French and has traveled widely.

She is currently serving as a Research Fellow for the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards in Broadcast Journalism.

When she finds spare time, Monica is an avid photographer, documentary film watcher, and  international soccer fan. You can follow Monica on Twitter @albamonica.