NPR's Summer 2004 Interns

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Intern Bios: N - Z

Casey Parkin, Audio Engineering

Casey Parkin, originally from Maryland, attends Malone College in Canton, Ohio. He is a senior commercial music major with a concentration in engineering and production. Casey has recorded and produced CDs for several local bands, worked in technical positions for a local theatre company and played in three bands. After graduation, he hopes to continue working for NPR.

Josh Payne, Arts & Information Desk

Josh Payne recently earned his master's from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. In Columbia's radio workshop, Josh had a great time covering New York City's waterfront and working on a weekly radio program.

For the past five years Josh has worked as a talent coordinator at "Saturday Night Live." His duties there include taking care of SNL's hosts and casting background actors.

Before his career in television, Josh received his bachelor's from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. It was there that Josh realized he was much more interested in broadcasting than in investment banking or management consulting. While at Penn, Josh was president of the parliamentary debate team and spent a fantastic semester in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Josh lives with his wife in Hoboken, N.J.

Jen Pearl, Communications/Publicity & Special Events

When Jen Pearl realized that most of her stories began with "I was listening to NPR and...", she decided to apply for a communications internship here. It was only fitting. She recently graduated from Syracuse University, where she majored in public relations and international relations. (She also minored in Spanish, which she declared just one day before graduation.)

Jen Pearl is known for asking a lot of questions during group meetings at NPR. She says, "I learned that from my grandmother who always told me, 'God gave you a mouth -- use it!'"

Jen loves people, new experiences, new cultures and dancing. She also enjoys finding random things to do and see. Most recently, she followed a Chinese drum band around D.C.'s Eastern Market and went on a hiking trip with strangers her parents' age. She is also learning Vietnamese from her roommate.

One of the biggest life lessons Jen has learned is to never assume anything about people. She envisions working in the non-profit sector. Her dream job is to travel, learn about other cultures and languages and help people. Overall, Jen tries to live by the motto: Live long, love lots and laugh your a#$ off!

Tiffany Reed, Information Technology

Tiffany Reed is a native of Washington, D.C. She recently graduated from Florida A&M University with a bachelor's in computer information systems. She says, "The IT department is a great place to work! There is always something new and exciting going on within the department." She is enjoying her work in IT and assisting with the BlackBerry® handheld project.

Tiffany has interned at the District of Columbia Public Schools' office of career and technology education; the state technology office in Tallahassee, Florida; and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington, D.C. She plans to return to school to pursue a master's in management information systems. She spends her extra time as an assistant coach to her former junior high school cheerleading team and volunteers with a local summer reading program.

Tamara Robinson, Elections Desk

Tamara Robinson was born in Gary, Ind., and moved with her family to Denver when she was five. Tamara graduated from the University of Denver with a bachelor's in journalism and public policy. Before going to University of Chicago where she is currently earning a master's in public policy, Tamara took a year off. During that time, she worked as a legislative aide to a Colorado senator and on a U.S. Senate campaign.

In her spare time, Tamara writes for a policy website, blackpolicy.org, a non-partisan site that looks at legislation affecting African-Americans. The site is operated by the Center for African-American Policy at the University of Denver, which happens to be run by her former boss (the Colorado senator).

Julie Rosenthal, Science Desk

A fourth-year medical student at the University of Pennsylvania, Julie Rosenthal comes to us from Detroit, Mich., where, she says, "They don't know what real humidity is." She spent four great years at Yale University before leaving Connecticut for Philly. Now, she is taking a brief break from saving lives and curing all the world's diseases at Penn to live in D.C., where, in accordance with her enjoyment of acronyms, she plans to do a year of research at the NIH following her stint at NPR. Julie is thrilled to be an AAAS Mass Media Fellow at the Science desk, passionately combining her loves of communication and science.

When not slaving away for radio, you can find Julie reading, dancing, playing softball, drinking bubble tea, baking, hanging out with friends or sitting around on her beach chair or air mattress, bemoaning the lack of furniture in her "furnished" apartment.

Elizabeth Spainhour, Legal division

Elizabeth is an intern in the Office of the General Counsel and just finished her second year of law school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Elizabeth also has a master's in journalism and mass communication from Carolina and a bachelor's from Dartmouth College.

Emilia Stefanczyk, Member and Program Services

Emilia Stefanczyk is a senior communications/mass media major at New York University. Last summer she interned with a NY/LA public relations and management firm, Full Picture. She is bilingual in English and Polish and avidly studies French in the hopes of soon becoming fluent in a third language. She loves watching and reading about independent and foreign films, visiting art galleries in Chelsea and ballroom dancing.

Julia Taylor, All Things Considered

All Majors Considered would be a good title for Julia Taylor just-completed college career at Northwestern University. The reject list of majors includes music, film and comparative literature. She settled on a double in journalism and Spanish. The constant in her life has been radio news. She has worked at NPR affiliate station WAMU, at WTOP Newsradio and at her college station, WNUR.

A DC native, Julia is happy to be back for now. As for the future, she is of course considering many possibilities. She dreams of reporting on the locals in a tiny New England town and of becoming a foreign affairs stringer in Buenos Aires. Through all this, she is quite certain she will stick with journalism. That way, she can indulge a temporary passion for whatever story she is covering and soon move on to the next.

Craig Tello, Business Development

A native of Ridgefield Park, N.J., Craig is lending two hands, 10 fingers, and a whole lot of shoe leather to the business development department. Before coming to NPR, he devoted much of his time and effort to New York University's student newspaper, the Washington Square News, of which he is business manager.

In the fall, he will return to the paper and NYU. He will graduate with a degree in journalism and sociology. By the end, his summer in Washington will have consisted of being denied access to just about all of his favorite things -- pro wrestling, horror movies and his sneaker collection. Thus, his therapeutic alternatives are hours of NPR fun, crime-fighting in Foggy Bottom, and a slew of low-quality photos of DC sites on his camera phone.

Despite countless efforts of others to disparage the Garden State, Craig forever maintains that Jersey is the one true place where troubles melt like (somewhat bitter) lemon drops.

Katie Wooley, Audience and Corporate Research

Katie Wooley recently graduated from James Madison University with a bachelor's in marketing information systems. Having little experience in broadcast, Katie brings market research and data mining skills to the table. Katie is helping develop the many statistics you find in the news about NPR's fantastic programs and growing audience.

Katie has worked with Adidas to create a full promotional campaign for a product launch in 2005 and is a Certified eMarketing Associate (CeMA). Long-term goals for Katie include hiking the Appalachian Trail, running a marathon, landing a job in market research and always taking the scenic route.

Julie Yen, Day to Day

Julie Yen is a sophomore at Stanford University. She caught the radio bug as an intern at KPBS radio in San Diego last summer. Among her many adventures, she accompanied reporters on stories such as the Mexican consulate addressing drug trafficking and the birth of Mei Sheng, the newest panda cub at the San Diego Zoo. Julie pursues her passion for NPR's diverse programming and personal interviews as the youngest reporter and discussion host for Stanford's public radio station KZSU.

Aside from her radio addiction, she has written investigative news, features, and opinion pieces for Teen Newsweek, The Stanford Daily, The San Diego Union-Tribune, North County Times and The San Diego Reader. A former editor-in-chief of her high school newspaper, Julie also founded, edited and designed a national student magazine about Asian-American youth issues and is now an assistant editor for the Stanford Journal of East Asian Affairs.

Determined to travel the world, Julie has visited England and Taiwan, once served as a U.S. delegate to Korea and aspires to study in France and Italy. In August, she will bring her camera on her next excursion -- a seminar tracing the Silk Road through Northwest China -- to create a photo documentary. An avid student of contemporary art, Julie enjoys sketching, graphic design and experimenting with digital photography. In addition, she is always up for indulging in white mochas, the occasional 13,000-foot skydive, improvisational dance and a good laugh.

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