Ksenia Galouchko
Thesis topic: Vladimir Putin's relationship with satire
"Throughout my career as a journalist I've been grateful for my background in history, which not only provided me with in-depth knowledge of global politics and economics, but also sharpened my writing skills."
Current Job:
Financial Markets Reporter at Bloomberg News, Moscow
First Job after Graduation:
Content manager, Cooliris, Palo Alto
How did you end up pursuing your career? Do you have any advice for students contemplating similar career paths? What do you know now that you wish you knew when you were an undergraduate?
After graduating from Stanford I moved to New York to pursue a Master's degree in print journalism at the Columbia Journalism School. Growing up in Russia, I dreamt of becoming a journalist, however, when I moved to the U.S. for college I wasn't sure that my writing in English could ever be as good as it was in my native language. During my junior year, I took Professor Mullaney's Modern Chinese History class, where my teaching assistant was Eric Vanden Bussche, a fantastic former reporter and Columbia Journalism School alumnus. By encouraging me to apply to Columbia and helping me believe in and hone my writing skills, Eric played a life-changing role in my career.
After Columbia, I became an intern and later on a full-time financial markets reporter at Bloomberg News in New York before moving to Moscow in 2012 to work at our local news bureau. Over the past six years I've interviewed some of the world's biggest money managers, covered Russia's Crimea annexation, the impact of sanctions on the Russian economy, as well as the U.S. election hacking scandal.
Has your History training helped you along the way - and if so, how?
Throughout my career as a journalist I've been grateful for my background in history, which not only provided me with in-depth knowledge of global politics and economics, but also sharpened my writing skills.
Do you have any particularly fond memories of the History Department?
The Stanford History Department did an amazing job at giving me a background in a variety of areas. Professor Mullaney's Modern Chinese History course was a real eye-opener and my favorite class at Stanford, after which I took a three-week summer seminar in Beijing and Shanghai. I also have the fondest memories of Professor Stansky's English literature and Professor Lougee Chappell's French history classes. Their passion for history and kind willingness to share their knowledge is something that I'll always treasure.