Zarrin Tasnim Ahmed

Writing has always been my way of understanding myself and the world around me, a way of processing what I was thinking and feeling and getting it all down on paper. As a student, I did very well in English and writing. When I was in high school trying to figure out what I wanted to study, I read a National Geographic article that moved me so much that I knew that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to use my writing to tell stories about people whose voices are never heard, and I wanted to make a difference in the world. That's really what led me to studying journalism at the University of Connecticut in 2011. I've been a journalist since 2015 and moved into AI in 2023, where I'm now doing both. My skill set transferred over, and I'm glad I'm able to use AI in helpful ways in journalism. I left the U.S. in my twenties and went to the Caribbean for the first time, establishing myself as a journalist in the British Virgin Islands to the point where Reuters contacted me to be their contact person there. I was able to break a major news story for them that really impacted the entire British Virgin Islands and the Caribbean. What I pride myself on is being able to go to a new country and become such a part of a community that I was a foreigner to, and then be such a trusted source that an international news agency would choose me to report on the most important stories. I traveled the world working remotely, and now I'm back in Connecticut with my family and friends, looking to pursue a law career and get my JD to enhance what I already do, but with law.