Q&A With Leina Gabra
Leina Gabra is an audio producer, journalist, and writer based in New York City. Her work has appeared in Feet in 2 Worlds, ZORA, NAYLA, Exclaim!, THIS Magazine, and BORGEN Magazine, among others. She is currently an MFA candidate in Literary Reportage at the NYU Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute.
A: Neither of my stories started out in a class—they actually both started out with me poking around social media. I had been looking into local nonprofits and advocacy groups for another story about affordable housing on the Lower East Side that I was working on in my Introduction to Audio Reportage class when I came across the 24-hour home healthcare workers. I found out about the Flatbush African Burial Ground because I had decided to do some research on the Haitian immigrant community in Brooklyn as a jumping off point for a pitch, and clicked around on Instagram until I eventually landed on the FABG Coalition's profile.
Q: How did the pitching process go for you?
A: The first story I pitched to Fi2W was a response to an open pitch call it had posted for a series called The Hustle. I pitched the home health care workers story through a pitch form and heard back from them pretty quickly. I was honest about the fact that I had never done a long-form audio story before, but that I had been building a lot of new audio skills from my Intro to Audio class with Audrey Quinn. In a strange coincidence, a former Fi2W intern and NYU Journalism alum, Aria Young, had pitched them the exact same story! The editors suggested that Aria and I team up to produce this piece, which is exactly what we ended up doing. I think we each brought our individual strengths to the story and both learned a lot along the way.
Q: What did you learn during the editing process?
A: That it is a much, much longer process than you might expect! Feet in 2 Worlds is a somewhat unique experience because for each long-form audio story, the producer also writes a written accompaniment as well, so we had two separate editing processes for the audio and for the written part. The first round of edits on Aria and my first script was a little daunting because the editors had made so many suggestions and changes. But, as we went through each round of edits, I came to appreciate how important it is to zoom out of the nitty-gritty reporting and look at each story's larger picture. The editing process is what shaped the narrative arcs and focal points of both of my Fi2W stories. I'm really grateful to my editors, Mia and Quincy, for being so patient and meticulous!
Q: What did you learn during the pitching and publishing process that you think would be helpful to other journalists looking to get their work published?
A: As I'm sure any freelancer knows, pitching is difficult; don't give up and be persistent! Take advantage of the resources that NYU offers to make sure you're getting in touch with the right editors and that your pitches are the strongest they can be. When it comes to publishing, I think it's important to remember that journalism is ultimately a collaborative process between you and an editor, or maybe even several editors, fact-checkers, etc. Be a team player and be patient—the whole process is in the interest of making your story the best it can be for the outlet.
