Olivia Exstrum Email & Phone Number

New York, United States

New York, New York, United States

Telluride, Colorado, United States

At Citizens State Bank, a community bank on the Western Slope of Colorado, I performed all bank teller duties and managed our marketing and social media strategy. I edited all internal and external bank materials for style and substance. I assisted in originating more than 300 Paycheck Protection Program loans, and wrote, edited, and coordinated a 14-month email campaign about the program. I revamped our job postings to have clear, consistent messaging. I also spent several months in the bank's bookkeeping department.

San Francisco Bay Area

As a Writing Fellow, I continued to pitch and write stories for the site. I also copyedited all online content (about three hours of work a day) from December to March. One of my final stories at Mother Jones, "What If Courts Treated Young Sex Trafficking Victims Like Cyntoia Brown as People, Not Perpetrators?" was published in the September/October 2019 print magazine.

San Francisco Bay Area

As a Senior Editorial Fellow, I pitched and wrote stories and sidebars for the website and magazine. I fact-checked the bi-monthly print magazine, including three cover stories, as well as our online content. I was also chosen out of several other fellows to copyedit online content and magazine stories, with guidance from the copy editor. In June 2018, I appeared on Portland radio station XRAY.fm to talk about my story "Illinois Wants to Launch a Huge Get-Out-the-Vote Campaign—In Jails." My work can be found at the link below.

Chicago, Illinois

I analyzed and input data on court records and other public documents. I conducted research for a directory of Cook County judges and collaborated with City Bureau, another Chicago nonprofit, on a tracker tool of major cities' police union contracts. I also contributed research and reporting to our series on inequality in the Cook County bail system and assisted in fact-checking our Election Day guide to the Cook County judges on the ballot. Our bail series can be found at the link below.

Evanston, Ilinois

For more than two years, I wrote two to five articles a week for the print and online editions of the publication, with a focus on campus news. I covered sexual assault, divestment efforts, and changes to university policy. In the following years, I wrote several investigative pieces. During my time at the Daily, I wrote more than 130 stories.

Evanston, Illinois

As Web and Multimedia Editor, I was responsible for the day-to-day publishing operations on the Daily's website and formatted stories, photos, and multimedia elements for online. I oversaw dozens of staffers on the audio, video, photo, and interactive desks, and trained new web staffers in publishing and promoting content. On a macro level, I coordinated features like our digital projects landing page and three regular podcasts, and consolidated our Election 2016 coverage into one place. I also regularly checked the website for consistency in style and formatting, and streamlined our social media strategy to better align with our brand.

Evanston, Illinois

I oversaw Delta Zeta's presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr. I helped create an official website for the chapter and grew our follower count on Instagram from fewer than 200 to more than 500 in less than a year. I featured several series on social media, including a "Senior Spotlight" and a "New Member #WCW." I expanded our chapter's brand across campus, and orchestrated chapter-wide pushes on social media and the website in the days leading up to the Panhellenic Association's recruitment kickoff. I also assisted in choosing chapter apparel and merchandise to order.

Greater Philadelphia Area

I wrote about crime, education, and general news in Pennsylvania's biggest city, and my stories were featured on the front page several times. By the end of my time at the Inquirer, I had produced three features about criminal justice. My award-winning feature on the Graterford prison education program was featured in the Marshall Project's "Opening Statement" newsletter of the best criminal justice reporting. My work can be found at the link below.

Johannesburg, South Africa

I completed my journalism residency at the Star, one of the biggest daily newspapers in South Africa. I covered protests, courts, crime, and general news in Johannesburg and wrote six front-page leads, the first of which was published in my first week. In addition to daily reporting, I wrote features and an op-ed. Most of my work can be found at the link below.

Evanston, Illinois

As In Focus Editor, I edited long-form investigative stories and supervised their research, reporting, and writing. In Fall 2015, along with a co-editor, I oversaw the publication of two In Focuses about textbook costs and diversity in Greek life. In Winter 2015, as the sole In Focus Editor, I oversaw the publication of two In Focuses about safe spaces on campus and university alcohol policy, and published my second In Focus, about medical leaves for students struggling with mental health issues. (My first, about divestment efforts, was published in May 2015.) During this time, I also edited an In Focus about NU's ties to the drug Lyrica, which was published in April 2016. Both quarters, I coordinated the stories' multimedia elements including photo, video, audio, and graphics and discussed the reporting and editing process on an in-house podcast. My final In Focus, about NU's campus in Qatar, was published in February 2017. All In Focuses can be found at the link below.

Evanston, Illinois

As Digital Engagement Editor, I oversaw the website and incorporated more multimedia elements into online stories. I ran the web desk one night a week and assisted the Web Editor one to two nights a week. I ensured the Daily's homepage was always up-to-date with fresh content and added photos to online stories whenever possible. I updated our Editorial Board and Awards webpages and refined our social media strategy, including maintaining a new Instagram account. I also scheduled tweets and Facebook posts, uploaded PDFs of the paper daily, and checked the site regularly to ensure all stories were accurate and formatted correctly.

Evanston, Illinois

At the Medill Justice Project, an award-winning journalism enterprise that investigates potentially wrongful criminal charges and convictions, I investigated the case of Kate Parker, an Oregon mother accused of medical child abuse and facing 43 criminal charges and more than 30 years in prison. Along with a small team of students and Alec Klein, program director and a former investigative reporter at The Washington Post, I conducted research, analyzed thousands of pages of documents, and interviewed the accused, lawyers, and experts. I traveled to Oregon with several of my colleagues to do background research and interview Parker, her lawyers, and her family. Our work culminated in a 9,000-word story, published in December 2015 on MJP's website. Although I contributed research to the entire story, I specifically wrote the “Online posts” section. Less than a week after publication, prosecutors informed lawyers they would drop several of the most serious charges filed against Parker. In February 2016, prosecutors announced they had reached a settlement that would dramatically reduce Parker's potential sentence from more than 30 years to five years of probation. The story won several awards. Our investigation can be found at the link below.

Greater Chicago Area

I wrote stories and profiles on Chicago communities, focused on criminal justice, race, and poverty. I collaborated with a full-time reporter on a feature on the cost of prison phone calls. I analyzed legal documents, filed FOIA requests, attended court hearings, and live-tweeted and photographed protests. I also worked side-by-side with the Reporter's publisher and editor-in-chief to conduct research for an enterprise story on prison transportation services. My work can be found at the link below.

As Managing Editor, I read and edited all of the paper's content and approved all story elements like headlines, decks, pull quotes, teasers, and captions. I finalized the paper's design and was responsible for ensuring the correct pages were sent to the printer. With the other two Managing Editors, I ran the paper on the Editor-in-Chief's nights off. I edited between 6-12 hours a night, four nights a week.

As Campus Editor, I was responsible for all campus news. I managed a team of more than 30 reporters, including three assistant editors. I edited articles between 6-10 hours a night, four nights a week for content and copy in collaboration with other editors.

I edited articles three nights a week for content and copy with another Assistant Editor and the Campus Editor.

Evanston, Illinois

I edited two to three articles a week for content and copy with four other Assistant Summer Editors and the Editor-in-Chief.

Telluride, Colorado

I wrote articles and took photos that focused on the culture, arts, history, and people of southwestern Colorado for a quarterly magazine with a circulation of 20,000 to 25,000. For an article on the Hardrock Hundred Mile Endurance Run, I created and embedded an interactive map to show the runners' route and race checkpoints. My final story, about a mountain lion attack in the area, appeared in the publication's Winter/Spring 2014-2015 print issue.

Grand Island, Nebraska

During my junior and senior years of high school, I wrote a biweekly, 600-word column for a daily newspaper with a circulation of 20,500 in 11 counties in central Nebraska.

Bachelor'S Degree, Journalism

Activities and Societies: The Daily Northwestern, Dance Marathon, Delta Zeta Sorority, Medill Media Teens, Best Buddies

High School

Activities and Societies: Salutatorian, Editor-in-Chief of The Islander, Ultimate Image Varsity Show Choir, First Presbyterian Church.