Valerie Pires

REPORTING FELLOW

A New Yorker with an unconventional background, Valerie Pires has always been interested in underreported stories and how she could best tell them. Following a nontraditional path, Pires worked in broadcast journalism and documentary filmmaking in the U.S. and abroad. In 2020, she decided to return to college to pursue degrees in journalism and documentary film. After graduating 'With High Honors' in Journalism from LaGuardia Community College, Pires is now pursuing her BA in Film and Media Studies at Columbia University.

NYC-based but working globally, Pires focuses on investigative journalism and social documentary (photography and film). Using the written word, stills, and moving images, she develops investigative multimedia storytelling that promotes conversation and helps generate social impact. Pires is especially interested in issues related to human rights, marginalized communities, namely women, immigrants, refugees, and the LGBTQ community, realities of trauma, and stories that address the intersectionality of politics, education, and culture.

Pires's Pulitzer Center multimedia project "Offtrack: The Long Road to a Second Chance for LGBTQ Refugees in Greece" will document the experiences of LGBTQ asylum-seekers in Greece and investigate the long-term approach to safety, integration, and relocation by Safe Place International (SPI), an LGBTQ shelter in Athens, and FENIX, a legal aid organization based in Lesvos, and other humanitarian organizations.

Valerie Pires