Melanie Plenda

Contact

Professional Experience

Let me be your Woodward...or Bernstein, your Bourdain, your Sedaris, your less mercurial Foster-Wallace. Give me an investigation, a feature, a food piece, an essay--whatever you are looking for-- count me in. I can do it. I have 18 years of journalism experience, am well-published and have covered everything from pasta to politics. I thank you kindly for your consideration.

Expertise

Reporter
18 Years
Writer
18 Years
Book Author
2 Years

Specialty

Crime
18 Years
Arts & Humanities
18 Years
Politics
10 Years

Industries


Magazine - Large Consumer/National magazines
Newspaper - Local/Regional
Online/new media

Total Media Industry Experience

18 Years

Media Client List (# assignments last 2 yrs)

TheAtlantic.com (3-5), Salon.com (1-2), Daily Beast (1-2), New Republic (1-2)

Corporate Client List (# assignments last 2 yrs)

Wall Street Journal Custom Studios (3-5), University of New Hampshire (10+), NH World Affairs Council (1-2)

Other Work History

American Baby (June 2014), The Associated Press; All Things Considered, New Hampshire Public Radio ; The Atlantic.com; The Boston Globe; The Boston Globe Magazine; The Boston Herald; Business NH Magazine; The Consumerist (story pickup); Detroit News (2001);The Discovery Channel\\\'s How Stuff Works; NPR (freelance producer); New Hampshire Business Review; New Hampshire To Do Magazine; The New Republic; Parenting NH Magazine; Politico (story pickups); Salon.com; The (Keene, NH) Sentinel; The (Nashua, NH) Telegraph; The (NH )Union Leader; Wall Street Journal Custom Studios (Curiosity Magazine: The Art of Inquiry).

Foreign Language Skills

Some Spanish

Equipment

laptop, digital camera, digital audio recorder

References

Happily given upon request

Awards

Spot news reporting, New York Newspaper Publishers Association, 2008 Disaster coverage, New England Press Association, 2005 Casey Journalism Center on Children and Families Fellowship winner, 2002 Investigative reporting, Michigan Press Association, 2000

Associations

New Hampshire Press Association, board member

Showcase

General

Girl Scouts Meet Behind Bars
(New Hampshire Public Radio 5/21/2013)
Say the phrase Girl Scout meeting, and you may think Merit badges, social service projects – cookies, perhaps? Well, for a few girls in the Granite State, a scout meeting is one of the few times they get to see their mothers. The Goffstown womens’ prison is home to the Girl Scouts Beyond Bars program.
Once a C-Section, Always a C-Section?
(The Atlantic.com 7/27/2024)
This story investigates the monetary motivation for more C-Sections
Frats Clash with Riot Police
(The Daily Beast 10/19/2014)
Story on riots that rocked the outskirts of the Pumpkin Festival in Keene NH.
FinnaRage Wants You to Rage at Its Parties. So What if It Ends Up a Riot?
(The Daily Beast 10/22/2014)
Potty training might just break me
(Salon.com 7/4/2014)
In my life, I have grilled politicians, broken bread with criminals, waded through floodwaters and stood perilously close to fires. I was in labor for four days with little more than a strong aspirin on board. I never thought there existed something that could break me, nay, crush me so utterly, so thoroughly; something that could send me over the cliff and into the existential abyss. But then, I had never tried potty training.
Are Multiplayer Games the Future of Education?
(The Atlantic.com 7/14/2014)
A new classroom approach tries to bring more competition into the classroom.
Using Laughing Gas to Relieve the Pain of Childbirth
(The Atlantic.com 1/25/2016)
Though it's popular in other countries, the U.S. has historically shied away from giving nitrous oxide to women in labor. Now some hospitals are championing it as an alternative to epidurals.