Sanaz Meshkinpour
Sanaz Meshkinpour was born in Tehran, Iran, and moved to the United States with her parents and older sister when she was five years old. Meshkinpour grew up in Orange Country, Cal., and attended the University of California, Berkeley, where she studied political science with a focus in 
international relations and the Middle East.
While at school, Meshkinpour worked at several publications including the alternative weekly The Prague Pill and her hometown paper, The New-Enterprise. After graduation, she worked for three years as a communications coordinator for a human rights organization in San Francisco. This experience allowed her to travel to the Middle East to learn about major changes in the region.
Meshkinpour debated between pursuing public policy and journalism, but a radio internship in Berkeley, Cal., quickly cemented her love for broadcast journalism. She soon found that capturing someone’s voice telling a personal experience was both powerful and intimate.
As a broadcast concentrator at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, Meshkinpour hopes to focus on cultural and political issues in immigrant communities. Her goal is to become a well-rounded journalist and to, one day, make audio and video documentaries.
In her free time, Meshkinpour enjoys listening to “This American Life,” “StoryCorps” and “The Kitchen Sisters” on NPR. She also enjoys playing tennis and expects frequent calls from her mother for the latest tennis news.