Alex Schmidt

About

I'm based in NYC at present (though I'm in L.A. a lot too).
Say hi: hi@alexandraschmidt.com

I'm on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Quick bio

I started out in tech, moved to journalism for a chunk of time (at The New Yorker, Marketplace, WHYY and NPR), and have been spanning the online world and reporting ever since. Right now, I work in product/strategy/research/design for The Federal Reserve Bank of New York. You can read an essay I wrote about the connections between journalism and UX here. And in other design/writing news, in late 2022, a book I wrote will be published!

I've won reporting awards including radio doc of the year, reported from Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, Holland and Morocco, created online games, launched and managed websites, and content strategized for start-ups. I've learned many new things along this weird path, something I greatly enjoy doing. 

Where I've appeared

  • NPR's Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Weekend Edition

  • WHYY

  • NYTimes.com

  • NewYorker.com

  • The Los Angeles Times

  • The Awl

  • APM's Marketplace

  • KCRW

  • KPCC

  • KQED's The California Report

  • GOOD Magazine

  • TheAtlantic.com

  • The Orange County Register

  • La Opinion

  • Filter Magazine

  • PRI's The World

  • The Columbia Journalism Review

  • A List Apart

  • UX Booth

 

Past and Present Clients

  • UCLA Anderson School of Management

  • 20th Television Fox

  • Twitter

  • Chernin Entertainment

  • Kayne Anderson Rudnick

  • Technicolor

  • NYU Wagner School of Public Service

  • Kingmaker LA

  • 360 Group International

  • Assorted clients in the following fields:

  • medical / health, home furnishings, legal, real estate, tourism, beauty / fashion, media, financial services

  • Agency work:

    • Tigerspike

    • Fluidesign

    • Futureman Digital

    • Brand Knew

    • The Lift

A few personal items

I believe in (and love) volunteering. Lately, I've been doing so through Greater Prospect Heights Mutual Aid. In the past I've worked with Future Now, LetNYVote, Get Organized BK, Sister District, NYCares, apprenticing org Spark and SoCal tutoring org, School On Wheels.

My undergraduate honors thesis in Art History. (Title - Constructing Real Challenges to High Art Paradigms: Thomas Kinkade, Painter of Light(TM).) I'm putting it here because its reactionary spirit continues to inform me to this day!

Speaking of art, I make some sometimes. Check it out.