1996/1997

I’m a Colombian-Egyptian and I applied for the IAPA scholarship while working for the newspaper El Tiempo. When I received the letter confirming the scholarship I realized that, yes, I could do my Masters in Journalism at Columbia University in New York.

After graduation I was hired by Reuters and I started off writing about the oil market and the impact of international events on economies and fi nances. I covered everything from OPEC meetings in Vienna, Cairo and Caracas to the Venezuelan PDVSA strikes, general news and the September 11, 2001 attacks. I’ve interviewed presidents, ministers of fi nance and oil, and experts. I covered general meetings of the UN, conferences of economists and Wall Street investors and IMF meetings.

This year I received the Newswomen Club of New York Award for the best article about increased investment in frontier markets.

I have lived in New York since I came for my master’s at Columbia - thanks to the IAPA -- and now live in Greenwich, Connecticut with my husband and two children, 4 and two-and-a-half.

I’m Colombian and I was accepted by Boston University for a Master of Arts in Economic and Business Journalism where I studied for a year and a half. I went there with loans, savings and help from my parents, but if it weren’t for the IAPA scholarship I wouldn’t have been able to finish my Masters. I will forever be grateful for having been awarded that prize.

Living in Boston was a wonderful and demanding experience. My Master’s was a combination of economics and journalism, but at the time it was more challenging to take those classes in English than to learn economics. Today I look back and thank God for being able to fi nish my Masters and learning to write in another language.

I write in English for international media such as Dow Jones Newswires and Reuters. Today I work as a stringer for Reuters and Argus Media, an English media specializing in energy issues, where I am a correspondent for Colombia.