News Decoder intern Kaja Andrić has genes from two sets of people historically at war with each other. The result? Someone who sees connections, not divides.
News Decoder editorial intern Kaja Andrić.
If you grow up in the United States in Florida, attend university in New York and you are half Bosnian, half Serbian, speak three languages and love storytelling…well, that makes you perfect for News Decoder.
It describes journalism student Kaja Andrić who has joined News Decoder as editorial intern, bringing with her an infectious excitement for the nonprofit’s cross-border work.
Andrić joined the team in January and has since written about artifacts taken from the Greek Acropolis, the rise of mass shootings outside the United States and News Decoder’s new climate journalism project.
“I’m really happy that I have a platform on which I can write and be mentored and hone my journalism skills,” Andrić said.
Andrić is in her second year at New York University where she studies journalism. She was drawn to News Decoder for its cross-border connections, saying she believes there’s a lot of value to be found in interacting with professionals who come from different backgrounds.
“I think it adds depth to our stories,” she said.
Pairing intellectual curiosity with global perspective
Writing articles is just one area of News Decoder’s work that Andrić will sink her teeth into.
News Decoder Managing Director Maria Krasinski said that some of News Decoder’s exciting upcoming cross-border projects – like ProMS for “Promoting Media Literacy and Youth Citizen Journalism through Mobile Stories”, which will create an AI-powered tool to teach journalism skills – will benefit from Andrić’s experience and enthusiasm.
“In our first interview, Kaja struck me as accomplished and ambitious, but also intellectually curious and globally minded — exactly the kind of profile News Decoder looks for in interns,” Krasinski said. “She’s hit the ground running with the team, from writing articles and helping with editing to organizing open access resources for educators.”
Andrić said that her overall aim in her internship is to expand her horizons. “If I come out a little more of a global citizen, I’ll be happy.”
And a global citizen she already is.
Andrić grew up in Palm Beach in the U.S. state of Florida, but being half Bosnian and half Serbian, she said her childhood formed the fabric of her desire to tell stories across borders.
“My mum is from Serbia and Montenegro and my dad is from Bosnia and Croatia,” she said.
Andrić said that while she grew up in Florida, culturally, she was split between the Balkans and the United States.
“I think that my parents coming from enemy sides of a war helped me listen to and value stories since I was a kid,” she said. “There’s some intrinsic desire to hear and be heard that was embedded in me early on.”
She adds that books have accompanied her on her path from childhood to journalism.
“When I was a girl there was a bookstore I always used to walk to, it’s called Books & Books,” Andrić said. “I think that my parents letting me go there and hang out when I was a kid also fed into the idea of telling stories.”
Traversing languages and borders
Andrić also speaks French and Italian, studying romantic languages alongside journalism, and has won awards for both her journalism and her creative writing, including the Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s 2020 Gold Circle Awards First Place Winner for Open (Free) Form Poetry in the City of New York.
Krasinski said that interns at News Decoder get the opportunity to take ownership over a project to have a direct impact on the nonprofit’s trajectory.
“News Decoder aims to offer substantive internships for young people starting out in their careers that build real-world, transferable skills, whether they continue on in journalism, education or something else entirely,” she said. “We work with a startup mindset, continually innovating and iterating on our programs. They truly become part of the team.”
One month in, Andrić has already proven to be a valuable team member.
She passed on her advice from News Decoder Educational News Director Marcy Burstiner, that when writing, knowing what to leave out is just as important as knowing what to keep in.
“We’ve been working on honing the narrative but keeping some central throughline,” Andrić said. “It’s been really helpful.”
Then she gave what has become her trademark at News Decoder: a big smile.
Amina McCauley is program manager for News Decoder’s EYES project. She is an Australian journalist with a passion for learning through storytelling and a burning interest in the complicated relationship between humans and the environment. She has worked as a media analyst for U.S-based company NewsGuard, a tutor in Communicating Sustainability for the University of Tasmania and a proofreader and writer for Danish and Swiss companies. She has also worked as a news reporter, a long-form journalist, a yoga teacher and a private music tutor.
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