Jess (right) reporting on the elderly women free divers of South Korea’s Jeju Island

Jess Swanson is a Miami-based freelance writer and journalist drawn to interesting people and unusual experiences. She’s a proud generalist, but her work often includes investigative reporting, adventure, travel, sex, women’s issues, technology, business, and the environment. She can conduct interviews in English and Spanish.

She is the daughter of a first-generation Iranian immigrant and a third-generation Florida Man. She graduated from Columbia University’s School of Journalism.

Two of her stories — “In Hot Water” and “Wasted Broward” — received first-place awards in Public Service Reporting and Investigative Reporting from SPJ Florida, respectively. Previously, she was the news editor at the Miami New Times and senior editor at American Airlines’ inflight magazine American Way.

You can find her bylines in The Intercept, Vox, Cultured, Business Traveler, Venice, Fort Lauderdale Magazine, Miami New Times, Broward-Palm Beach New Times, Time Out Miami, Aventura Magazine, Fort Lauderdale Illustrated, Palm Beach Illustrated, and the Village Voice.