Kathryn Nelson is a Minneapolis freelance journalist who frequently writes about international relations, human rights, conflicts and genocide and mental health issues.
While completing her undergraduate degree in global studies with minors in journalism and Spanish, she worked as an intern, reporter, editor and columnist at the Minnesota Daily (20,000 daily), and as a student reporter at the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper (322,362 daily, 534,750 Sunday).
Kathryn also interned at Amnesty International U.S.A.'s media department, covering the Supreme Court case, Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, regarding detainees in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, as well as developing and implementing educational curriculum for the organization's youth program. She also composed press releases, organizational statements and letters to the editor to be published in the Washington Post newspaper.
To expand her technical writing skills, she joined the University of Minnesota’s Center for Transportation Studies editorial staff writing material for various newsletters and publications.
In 2007, she moved to Bungoma, Kenya to work at a Red Cross refugee camp, and subsequently co-founded an organization in a nearby village. Kathryn currently directs all development, fundraising and media outreach programs for the charity.
Kathryn was awarded the Mark of Excellence in Journalism 2007 Award for breaking news, the Society of Professional Journalists 2007 Region 6 Awards for online opinion and commentary and the National Diversity Award 2008 from the Associated Collegiate Press for her multimedia series about living in East Africa. She regularly speaks to high school students about human rights and poverty in developing nations.
Kathryn believes her purpose as a writer is to bear witness to the injustices of the world, and hopes to become an international correspondent in the future.