Judith Fortunova-Russell is a journalist and an award-winning poet from Washington, D.C. She graduated with her bachelor's degree in journalism, French, and international studies from St. John's University. While there, she initiated her interest in politics and advocacy through her internships at Accuracy in Academia, the House of Representatives, and the Filmmakers for Tomorrow Foundation. At the same time, her study abroad programs in Rome and Perugia, Italy, and Paris, France, established her passion for intercultural communication.
Immediately following her bachelor’s graduation, she earned a certificate in United Nations Studies from Columbia University. This experience sharpened her research and reporting focus on humanitarian, international development, and human rights. She later explored this interest even further through a dual-M.A. degree in Journalism, Media, and Globalization from the Erasmus Mundus Journalism Consortium in Aarhus, Denmark, and Hamburg, Germany, and eventually a Fulbright Research Award at Loughborough University.
In 2022, Russell was a recipient of the prestigious US-UK Fulbright Prostgraduate Research Award, through which she was able to conduct independent research at Loughborough University's School of History, Politics, and International Relations. Throughout the duration of the Fulbright Award, Russell honed her research interest in the problematization of humanitarianism and security in the EU's discourse on climate change and migration. She also participated in key events, such as the 2022 Fulbright Distinguished Lecture featuring US Special Presidential Envoy to Climate, John Kerry; the 2023 EU-NATO Fulbright Schuman Scholar Seminar; and the 2023 British International Studies Association Conference in Glasgow.
Russell has already published over 30 bylines of community news in such media outlets as The Torch newspaper, Accuracy in Academia, and Hayfield Secondary's "H2N" magazine. Her poetry works have also been selectively chosen to be circulated in multiple international and national Almanacs. In her spare time, she runs a travel blog, "The Dromomaniac Diaries." From Bahrain to Ukraine, the 27-year-old has covered everything from United States legislative hearings to the oil industry in Latin America and has interviewed sources from filmmakers to international human rights activists.
Inspired by the famous words of Pulitzer Prize winner Ivo Andric: "Bridges of this Earth are only children's toys, pale symbols. And all our hope lies on the other side." Through her work, she aims to use her words to build bridges between people, cultures, and ideas.
Immediately following her bachelor’s graduation, she earned a certificate in United Nations Studies from Columbia University. This experience sharpened her research and reporting focus on humanitarian, international development, and human rights. She later explored this interest even further through a dual-M.A. degree in Journalism, Media, and Globalization from the Erasmus Mundus Journalism Consortium in Aarhus, Denmark, and Hamburg, Germany, and eventually a Fulbright Research Award at Loughborough University.
In 2022, Russell was a recipient of the prestigious US-UK Fulbright Prostgraduate Research Award, through which she was able to conduct independent research at Loughborough University's School of History, Politics, and International Relations. Throughout the duration of the Fulbright Award, Russell honed her research interest in the problematization of humanitarianism and security in the EU's discourse on climate change and migration. She also participated in key events, such as the 2022 Fulbright Distinguished Lecture featuring US Special Presidential Envoy to Climate, John Kerry; the 2023 EU-NATO Fulbright Schuman Scholar Seminar; and the 2023 British International Studies Association Conference in Glasgow.
Russell has already published over 30 bylines of community news in such media outlets as The Torch newspaper, Accuracy in Academia, and Hayfield Secondary's "H2N" magazine. Her poetry works have also been selectively chosen to be circulated in multiple international and national Almanacs. In her spare time, she runs a travel blog, "The Dromomaniac Diaries." From Bahrain to Ukraine, the 27-year-old has covered everything from United States legislative hearings to the oil industry in Latin America and has interviewed sources from filmmakers to international human rights activists.
Inspired by the famous words of Pulitzer Prize winner Ivo Andric: "Bridges of this Earth are only children's toys, pale symbols. And all our hope lies on the other side." Through her work, she aims to use her words to build bridges between people, cultures, and ideas.