Seyma Bayram

Seyma Bayram, M.S. ‘19, is a Kurdish-American reporter with a background in print, radio and visual journalism. She was a 2023-2024 Spencer Education Fellow at Columbia Journalism School and the 2022-2023 Reflect America Fellow at National Public Radio in Washington, D.C., where she reported for the climate and visuals desks and produced for All Things Considered. Her news photography has appeared in The Associated Press, CNN, The Washington Post and other outlets.

As a print reporter, Seyma covered race, violence against LGBTQ+ communities, gun legislation, the 2020 general election, abortion access and legacies of redlining and racism in urban planning for the Akron Beacon Journal in Akron, Ohio. She began her journalism career reporting on local government and criminal justice at an alt-weekly in Jackson, Mississippi. Her local reporting won awards from The Associated Press, the Society of Professional Journalists and The Press Club of Cleveland, among others.

Before entering journalism, Seyma worked as a high school writing teacher, book editor and curator. She is from the Kurdish region of Turkey, and was raised in The Netherlands and upstate New York.