Bella Tabak
Bella Tabak is a senior at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, where she is pursuing a degree in magazine, news, and digital journalism. Her journey into journalism began during the COVID-19 pandemic, when she became deeply interested in the environmental and social impacts of fast fashion. Drawing on her STEM background from Norrge Free Academy, Bella combines science and storytelling to explore sustainability in fashion, women's rights, AI, and popular culture. Her work emphasizes transparency and public trust in journalism, reflecting her belief that understanding how stories are created strengthens the connection between writers and readers.
During her time at Syracuse, Bella has gained extensive editorial and leadership experience. She served as Editor-in-Chief of University Girl Magazine, a student-run fashion and culture publication, overseeing both print and digital content while mentoring a team of contributors. She also writes opinion pieces for The Daily Orange, the university’s student newspaper, and received the David Rubin First Amendment Prize for her work on free speech issues. Beyond writing, Bella has applied her skills in social media and project management, currently managing content and interns for SOLACE Collective, a startup clothing company focused on neurodivergent-inclusive designs.
In addition to her professional endeavors, Bella is passionate about sustainable living and supporting small businesses. Her interests in thrifting, environmental activism, coffee culture, and reading across genres inform her creative approach to journalism. Whether mentoring students as a teaching assistant for a social media course or creating impactful content for her editorial projects, Bella continues to cultivate her vision of journalism that is thoughtful, ethical, and socially conscious.
• David Rubin First Amendment Award
• The Daily Orange
• University Girl Magazine
• Sellis Collective
What do you attribute your success to?
I think I have a very hard-working mentality, which obviously sometimes can also burden me as well with putting too much stress on myself, but I definitely think that I have been able to take that hardworking mentality and just try and take every opportunity that I've been given. And then, of course, also my family, and the position that my family has put me in, and how they have supported me as well.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say don't put any pressure on yourself to have everything figured out right now. I went into my freshman year of college undecided, because I wanted to make sure that I was getting myself into something that I was truly passionate about, and not just signing myself up for something at 18 that I didn't really know I was gonna want to do when I was older. So, I would just say that it's okay to take a little bit of time to figure out what you're truly passionate about, and it doesn't have to be right now.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think that within the media field in general, there's a lot of mistrust between the journalist and the reader, and I think that's something that I really want to try and fix. Being on the back end of it now, taking so many journalism classes, I feel like I have a really good understanding of how an article comes together, like who is being interviewed, who's fact-checking, who's writing, who's editing, and the average person doesn't really have an understanding of how a piece comes together like that. So I think that one thing that I'm really passionate about is trying to explain how something comes together to the reader within the piece, because I think that's important.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Sustainability is huge for me, just because I've done so much research into how harmful the fast fashion industry is, and I think that that's kind of broadened my scope into other things. I very largely boycott big businesses, just because I'd much rather support smaller people who are trying to feed their families over big corporations that are largely harming the environment and the community, so I think that that's something that I'm really passionate about.
Locations
Dreamworldgirl Zine
Ozrah, CT 06344