Jen Poyant

Reporter

Jen Poyant

Jen Poyant joined WBGO as a contributing reporter in January 2007. She began her career in journalism at WVTF public radio in Roanoke, Virginia. Jen worked at WVTF as a news and information intern during the fall of 2006 and then served as a reporter until moving to Brooklyn, NY.

Jen grew up in Reston, Virgina, a suburb of Washington DC. She double majored in English and Art History at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, where she received her B.A. After graduating, Jen headed to London, England where she finished her M.A. in Cultural and Critical Studies from the University of London, Birkbeck College. During her graduate studies Jen researched topics ranging from the development of master planned communities in the United States to the congruities between French Postmodern philosophy and Zen Buddhism.

After graduate school Jen moved to Kumamoto, Japan, where she taught English at a public technical high school and a prefectural school for the blind. "Each day, I'd arrive at work and find the kindest people, literally walking into walls and bowing in apology-to the wall." My experience in Japan was essential to my deciding to pursuing a career in journalism. Before work each morning, Jen listened to the NPR coverage of Hurricane Katrina. Jen says listening to those news-casts provided an essential connection back to America, at a time where the gulf coast was in crisis. Determined to get a job as a reporter, she soon moved back to Virginia and applied for the internship at WVTF.

Jen contributes regularly to the morning and afternoon newscasts at WBGO. She also focuses on education stories. But as a general assigment and freelance reporter, she says the sky is the limit for subject matter. She's looking forward to covering financial, political, public interest and arts and culture stories in New Jersey and New York area.