Photo by Claudia Ceja Hello, I am Natasha. I am a senior journalism major and photography minor at the University of La Verne, graduating in Spring 2019. I aspire to attend graduate school to earn my masters degree in Journalism, specifcally from the USC Annenberg program. After my education, I want to be a feature writer and photograph my own stories. I enjoy narrative writing and hard news photography.
Currently, I am the Editor in Chief of La Verne Magazine and Photography Editor for the Campus Times. I am also interning at Cafe con Libros, a community center and bookstore in Pomona, to help establish their community oral history project.
I use a Nikon D7200 and D60 with a Nikon 18-55mm, Nikon 70-300 lens and a Tamron 18-300mm lens. I also occasionally shoot with Nikon 30mm and 50mm lenses. I use a Wacom Intuous tablet to create my cartoons and graphics.
Journalism is my life. I have been doing yearbook or newspaper every school year since the fifth grade. It was in the eighth grade that I decided going to J-school was for me. In highschool, I took Journalism I-IV, helping to pioneer the school’s news media site. I became a section editor as a freshmana and the third Editor-in-Chief my junior year. In December of 2014, I was accepted to the University of La Verne and began my studies as a journalism major the next fall. At ULV, I served as a staff writer, copy editor, Arts editor, editorial cartoonist, photographer and photography editor for the newspaper. As a student, I served as a staff writer, staff photographer and editor in chief of La Verne’s city magazine.
Outside of school, I enjoy going to Disneyland with my family and boyfriend, attending San Jose Sharks games, and attending local cultural or community events. I like to make crafts, like candels and Mickey ears, and sell them at local craft fairs. I’m very proud of winning ULV’s mini maker fair in 2017.
I am interested in writing about Native American history and local art. For my senior project, I am proposing to write, photograph and design a magazine featuring either art in Pomona or featuring local native tribes. My father grew up on the Cahuilla reservation, and after a landscape photography class field trip to Joshua Tree (formally part of the Cahuilla territory) this past winter, I became interested in revisting my native roots. I was inspired by the petroglyphs and hope to one day get special permission do document and research the remaining glyphs that are not available to the public.
