Liya Cui

• Liya's first job was waitressing at her parents' restaurant at 14 years old, and she continued to work in the New York City restaurant scene for several years.
• Her favorite food article she's written is a profile of a Puerto Rican roast pork master who runs a famous food truck in the Bronx.
• Her signature dish at dinner parties is Nanjing salted duck, directly passed down from her mom's recipe.

Experience

Liya got her professional start in copywriting for a digital ad agency and later a meal kit company, where she was able to explore her love for food by writing and editing recipes. She recently decided to go back to graduate school to study journalism, which she had dabbled in before but never fully pursued. She reported for local student-run news sites that serve the South Bronx and interned at Reuters, where she reported stories for the National Affairs desk. With these new skills and experiences under her belt, Liya is now a freelance reporter, writer, and editor.

Education

Liya has a master's degree in journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY and a bachelor's degree in literary studies from the Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts at The New School.