Merrill Perlman

What do you do? My business, Merrill Perlman Consulting, offers training and consulting on everything from reporting, writing and copy editing to corporate workflow, communications and recruiting. I’m also a freelance editor, with clients including book publishers, news outlets and private companies. I’m an adjunct assistant professor at the other Columbia, at the Graduate School … Continued

Mark Obbie

What do you do? I am a freelance writer specializing in stories about crime, courts, criminal justice policy, law and business. How did you get your job? I quit my day job! After a career that started in reporting and then moved into editing, then editing/publishing, then teaching journalism, I realized all my promotions and … Continued

Courtney Murphy

The “easy button.” That’s how Courtney Murphy describes finding balance in her life. For a woman who has traveled around the world to pursue an award-winning career in revamping and redesigning magazines, she has to push this metaphorical button every now and then. Living closer to work, choosing her projects wisely, and making time to … Continued

John Lesser

John Lesser, BJ ’50, has spent over 60 successful years in the advertising and promotions field, serving major corporate clients such as Sharp, Toshiba, Panasonic and Olympus Optical, just to name a few. Now focused on just one client with the consultative agency he founded in 1971, John Lesser and Associates, Lesser took time to … Continued

Krista Kennell

What do you do? I am a photographer and have covered hard news, features, celebrity portraiture and Red Carpet out of Los Angeles and New York City. I just opened a photography studio near Manhattan. I am known for my work on wildfires in California, my coverage of the Arizona Yarnell fire and my social … Continued

Nancy Simon Giges

What do you do? In the working world, I am drawing on a range of reporting, writing, editing, organizational and life experiences to help entities interact with their various constituencies in today’s very social-focused environment. At the same time, I must say that I still get satisfaction and joy in interviewing people and writing the … Continued

Alan H. Fallick

What do you do? I am the daytime copy chief at Newsday on Long Island, N.Y. Besides the usual print regimen, my responsibilities also include supervising the flow of print copy to Newsday.com and ExploreLI.com and teaching editors how to code Web stories. I helped create and supervise our live Google spreadsheet that provides information … Continued

Max Cole

New York Radio Personality Max Cole, 90 60 years of continuous broadcasting on the airwaves in New York Ernest Max Cole passed away on July 16, 2006, after a short battle with lung cancer. He was 90 years old. Born on Oct. 20, 1915, in Topeka, Kan., Cole grew up in Springfield, Mo. He graduated … Continued

Charles Choi

What was your first job? How did you get that job? I started off as and still am a freelance reporter. I’ve written for The New York Times, Scientific American, Newsday, The San Diego Union-Tribune, Science magazine and others. What advantages did a Missouri journalism degree give you? The most important thing I got from … Continued

Fred Bleakley

Waitlisted by the Ivy League, nearly sidetracked by interfering deans and his own egregious spelling error did not halt Fred Bleakley’s ambition for a successful career in journalism. Determination, perhaps, is the key to his achievements. He has won prestigious awards, including the John Hancock Award for Excellence in Business Writing. He has held editorial … Continued