Authors

Leadership

Saranya Singh

Editor-In-Chief

California, USA

Saranya Singh (she/her) is the founder/editor-in-chief of We Need To Talk and lives in the United States. She is 14 years old and goes to Mission San Jose High School, in Fremont, California. She fell in love with journalism through her school newspaper and is constantly looking for ways to use her voice to make her difference. Outside of this newspaper, Saranya is an active Lincoln-Douglas debater and black belt in Taekwondo. In her free time, Saranya enjoys dancing, watching football, and playing the guitar.

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Grace Huang

Managing Director

Virginia, USA

Grace Huang (she/her) is a 16 year old currently living in the United States. Attending a STEM-focused high school, her passion lies at the intersection of computer science and biology. In her free time, she enjoys creating art, watching game streaming, and listening to music. To pursue her interest in journalism, she participated in her school's science journal and literary magazine, and finally joined We Need to Talk to amplify the voice of Gen Z through the power of words.

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Authors

Abey Bekalu

Staff Writer

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Abey Bekalu (He/Him) is a 17 year old high schooler from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He is very interested in philosophy, music, photography, art and science. But his biggest passion is writing, and he aspires to be a successful fantasy author and would like to use his works to raise social and philosophical issues that aren't given the attention they deserve.

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Afomia Ashebir Mekonnen

Staff Writer

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Alicia Xin

Spotlight Editor

New York, United States

Alicia Xin (she/her) is a 16 year old junior from Scarsdale High School, New York. From a young age, she has been interested in writing and current events. Besides being a Spotlight Editor for We Need To Tak, Alicia is also an editor for her school magazine and an officer for the Model UN club. In her free time, she paints and reads webtoons.

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Andrew Daly

Staff Writer

Massachusetts, United States

Drew Daly (he/him) is 17 years old and attends high school in the United States. He enjoys music, spending time with friends, and cooking. He is also a fiercely competitive member of his school’s track and cross country teams, and is the vice president of his class student council. The news has always been one of the most powerful tools for change, and as someone who considers himself a decent writer, Drew is excited to use his skills to make a difference. @and_drew_daly on insta

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Aneri Shah

Head of Graphic Design

Virginia, India

Aneri Shah (she/her) is a graphic designer for We Need To Talk. She is 16 years old and attends high school in the United States. She's always wanted to participate in activism because she believes it's important for people to express their opinions. Aneri enjoys playing piano, practicing lacrosse, and dancing. She also likes to listen to music, draw, and binge series on Netflix.

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Anika Chandra

Graphic Designer

Virginia, USA

Anika Chandra (she/her) is one of We Need To Talk’s graphic designers. She is 15 years old and attends high school in Virginia. Anika is excited to take part in this newspaper and use it to spread awareness. She likes to play lacrosse and golf. Anika also enjoys reading (specifically classic literature), hanging out with friends and family, and skiing whenever possible.

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Barsha Parajuli

Current Events Editor

Virginia, USA

Barsha Parajuli is the Current Event’s Editor of We Need To Talk and lives in the United States. She is 14 years old and goes to Chantilly Highschool in Virginia and fell in love with writing as she wrote more and more. Along with journalism, she likes to code, play volleyball, dance, paint, and be part of different communities that are supportive and ambitious :)) She’s been invested in the news since forever, and she loves the outlet that We Need To Talk gives her to be part of it!

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Bruktawit Fisseha

History Editor

Addis Abba, Ethiopia

Bruktawit Messele Fisseha, most commonly known as Bruk, is the history editor of We Need to Talk. She's a seventeen year old from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia who enjoys writing, and has had experience with creative writing on several social media platforms before.

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Chandrasnata Mohanty

Head of Social Media

Vishakhapatnam, India

Chandrasnata Mohanty (she/her) is a 15-year-old high school junior, currently residing in Visakhapatnam, India. She is a passionate writer and believes in the power of words. She finds her interests in music, psychology, art, history and culture. She is an active quizzer, MUNNER and an activist who is currently involved in the 100,000 Deeds Challenge and serves as Head of South Pacific for Outreach and Head of Press and Branding.

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Deeksha Chitale

Staff Writer

Bangalore, India

Deeksha Chitale is a writer for We Need to Talk. She is 14 years old and goes to high school in India. She has always been intrigued by the power that literature has and the voice that it gives to people who want to express their opinions. Apart from writing, she enjoys playing the violin, coding, cycling and listening to different genres of music.

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Deetya Adikhari

Staff Writer

Virginia, USA

Deetya Adhikari (she/her) is a 15-year-old living in the United States. She has interests in a variety of topics/subjects such as philosophy, writing, and coding. She also is a black belt in taekwondo and loves to play guitar. You could find Deetya reading books, playing video games, or binging a tv show in her free time.

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Divya Pradhan

Staff Writer

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Elbethel Gebeyehu

Staff Writer

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Elbethel Gebeyehu (She/her) is an 18 year old Senior from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She attends School of Tomorrow and is a staff writer for the We need to talk newspaper. Elbethel is passionate about discussing the equality of men and women and hopes to bring a change on the current status of women in her country through her writing. She has recently started her own financial literacy blog for teenagers to share her learning experience as she goes on to educate herself on how to manage money after highschool. She's also working on another blog called "Our body Our blog" where all the articles are written from the prespective of women..

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Heran Teteka

Staff Writer

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Heran Teteka (she/her) is an 18 year old Senior from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia currently attending School of Tomorrow. Heran has always been drawn to the arts from poetry to journalism to books the list is endless. She is Staff Writer here at We Need To Talk and she enjoys writing about subjects like Mental Health, Woman's and LGBTQ+ rights. She advocates for the distigmatization of these topics.

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Ishika Jain

Head of Social Media

Delhi, India

Ishika Jain is a writer in 'We Need To Talk' and lives in New Delhi, India. She is 17 years old and is in her senior year of High School. She was always fascinated by activism based journalism and is constantly looking for ways to make a difference to the society . Outside of this newspaper, Ishika is a science learner, a trained Kathak dancer and is currently learning coding . In her free time, Ishika enjoys dancing, watching movies, and reading blogs . She thinks 'We Need To Talk' is a great initiative by students and provides a significant medium to put forward the opinions/views of the youth.

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Jyotsna Bisaria

Arts Editor

Delhi, India

Jyotsna Bisariya is the Art's Editor of We Need To Talk .She lives in India and studies in 12 th grade at Sanskriti School,New Delhi. She is 17 years old and In her free time, she loves reading, drawing, dancing etc.She also like sports like swimming and basketball. She thinks making art is a great way to express your feelings and relieve stress.She wants the whole world to know that making art or even just doodling can help you in many ways.

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Ketevan Gallagher

Arts Editor

Virginia, USA

Ketevan Gallagher (she/her) is a fifteen year old from Virginia, USA, who attends Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. She’s worked on various school newspapers for four years, and she thinks it’s important to speak up for what you believe in. In her free time, she enjoys skateboarding and playing piano. She is a staff writer for We Need To Talk, and her Instagram is _ketevan.g

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Maitreyee Malla

Staff Writer

Vishakhapatnam, India

Maitreyee Malla (she/her) is a 16 year old from Visakhapatnam, India. She loves writing and uses it as a platform to articulate her thoughts and reflect on them. She loves cooking, music, spending time with her friends, animals and being outdoors. She is currently learning a classical, South Indian dance form, Kuchipudi, and enjoys learning new languages. She joined the We Need To Talk newspaper as she believes that access to good information would help people understand the world better and in turn, make it a better place. Her Instagram handle is @mkavyamalla

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Marina Soares

Staff Writer

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Marina Soares (she/her) is a 16 year old who wants to work with international relations in the future. Since she was a child, she discussed with her elders to show her perspective on social injuries and grew up wanting to change the world in any way she can, because she knows that with so much information and opportunities available, it is her commitment to the next generations. She likes to study, read, watch tv shows and write.

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Nicholas Zhang

Head of IT

California, USA

Nicholas Zhang is a 15 year old sophomore at Mission San Jose High School in California. With a passion for coding and solving problems, he manages the website, adding articles and updating anything needed. In his free time Nicholas enjoys coding, swimming, and biking.

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Paleesa Kapoor

Staff Writer

Ontario, Canada

Paleesa (she/her) is a 16 year old from Ontario Canada. She loves to draw, listen to music and watch netflix. Paleesa also enjoys reading and creating various art pieces. She joined We Need To Talk because she believes that it is important for people to express their opinions.

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Rachel Lewis

Spotlight Editor

Virginia, USA

Rachel (she/her) is the Spotlight Editor for We Need to Talk. She's 16 years old and attends high school on the East Coast of the United States. In her free time, Rachel loves to read, swim, listen to music, doodle, laugh with friends, and watch Netflix. After becoming passionate about journalism through her school, Rachel joined We Need to Talk to learn and share the stories of social justice activists and the issues they fight for.

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Samalmi Dewamullage

Staff Writer

Australia

Samalmi is a high schooler in Australia who reads more than she breathes. She loves childrens classics and cries to Disneys Moana every single time. Samalmi loves writing as words have always given people the ability to share their experiences and communicate their thoughts. She is a staff writer for We Need To Talk because she believes in the strength of determination and the audacity of hope . Samalmi is a grandma at heart. She loves yoga, documentaries, sunrises, sewing and children. She hopes her writing will brighten your day or your mind.

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Samantha Tan

Graphic Designer

California, USA

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Sameeksha Garg

Staff Writer

Virginia, USA

Sameeksha Garg (she/her) is a 16 year old high schooler living in the United States. She has a variety of interests including computer science, singing, and painting. In her free time, she’s found reading, listening to music, and spending time with family and friends. She joined We Need To Talk as a staff writer to shed light on overlooked social justice issues and spread awareness about them.

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Sanjana Mittal

Opinion Editor

Texas, USA

Sanjana Mittal (she/her) is a writer for the We Need to Talk Newspaper and lives in the United States. She currently goes to Clements High School in Texas and is 14 years old. She wasn't far into middle school when she realized her love for writing is best portrayed through journalism. Along with her passion for writing, Sanjana's hobbies include 2 different types of Indian dance, including Bollywood and Kathak, coding, walking her dog, and playing lots of volleyball. Sanjana tries her best to face new challenges and try new things, so she joined We Need to Talk to help participate in spreading awareness while having a fun time!

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Sheen Tyagi

Graphic Designer

Delhi, india

Sheen Tyagi (she/her) is 16 years old and from Delhi, India. She is very passionate about Women Rights in respect to work opportunities and self-dependence. She is also passionate about climate change and wishes to change the world. She sees herself working among people as a social worker,either as an entrepreneur serving people with better choices or advocating my beliefs by joining global communities such as the UN. She loves taking part in MUNs and Debates. She’s the President of GirlUp Nation club of the GirlUp Campaign by the United Nations Foundation, having members from India, Brazil, USA and Egypt. Their motto is to make everyone aware of the issues faced by women in the modern society and fight for their rights in all spheres of life. She is a graphic designer at We Need To Talk. Her social profiles are @sheentyagi on Instagram and @sheencarlisle5 on Twitter.

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Shrinidhi Thiruvengadam

Staff Writer

Texas, USA

Shrinidhi Thiruvengadam (she/her) is a senior in high school in the United States and is one of the Staff Writers for We Need To Talk. A long-time fan of journalism and multimedia, she recognizes the salience that free thought has in our society and hopes to use this medium to uplift other youth/marginalized voices. In her free time, she enjoys singing in choir, studying psychology, and reading!

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Tanisha Lanka

Graphic Designer

Tanisha Lanka (she/her) is a 15 year old from Virginia, USA. She has been a traditional artist from when she was 4, but is interested to explore graphic design and digital art. In addition, she is a competitive Xcel gymnast, a member of student government at Chantilly High School, and an avid reader and writer! In fact, she hopes to/is currently working on starting a newsletter for the nonprofit organization EduGirls. She has always been a passionate advocate for combatting climate change, and is working on publishing her own climate blog! She is excited to add color and life to We Need to Talk by creating appealing graphics.

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Tara Vidyababu

Staff Writer

Tara (she/her) is a 15 year old from Virginia, USA. She attends Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology and is a staff writer for the We Need To Talk newspaper. Tara has always had a fondness for writing. She enjoys writing about current issues and opinions to spread awareness and start conversations on important topics. In her pastime, Tara enjoys reading any classic novel or thriller, listening to her monthly music playlist, drawing, or watching any of her favorite streamers.

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Vijay Fisch

Staff Writer

Needham, MA

Vijay Fisch (he/him) is a staff writer at the newspaper! He lives in Needham, Mass, near Boston in the US. He is 16 years old. Primarily interested in social justice and activism centered around police brutality, he has worked on local and national police reform efforts since the murder of George Floyd. The news in instrumental in inspiring others to rise up and join a cause! Follow his insta @vijayfisch

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Vishakha Singh

Visakhapatnam, India

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Yedilsaac Degu

Staff Writer

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

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