Swapna at rest. Photo: SANJAY RAMASWAMY E-mail: vswa@aol.com

SWAPNA VENUGOPAL is a reporter at the Home News Tribune, a Gannett daily based in East Brunswick, N.J. She covers South Brunswick, Plainsboro and Cranbury townships and writes about everything from local politics to schools to development issues. She has a special interest in writing about cultural trends and immigrant communities and has written numerous articles on the South Asian Diaspora in Middlesex County. Covering Daler Mehendi’s Bollywood Extravaganza for the paper is something she hopes to do again. (She had to compete with a Jewish colleague, who claimed to know the lyrics by heart, to land the assignment.) Swapna graduated with honors from St. Xavier’s College, Bombay, with a B.A. in economics and sociology; and a master’s in sociology from the University of Bombay. She earned a master’s in journalism from New York University, where she was associate features editor of NYU’s daily newspaper, The Washington Square News. While at NYU, she also interned at the New York Daily News as a general assignment reporter. Her work has appeared in the New York Daily News, New York Press, Asbury Park Press, masala.com, The Times of India, Indian Express and Femina. A Bombay native, she now lives with her husband in Jersey City, N.J. She is a member of the SAJA Executive Board. To learn more about how you can attend Bollywood events during office hours, e-mail her at vswa@aol.com -30-

SAJA Home | Profiles | Senior SAJAers | SAJA Stylebook