Online, 10 Students Max

Have you been moved by a person’s life story, their excellence, their complications, their fullness to the point where you can’t stop thinking about them? Have you ever said, “huh, wonder what happened to that person?”and gone into a rabbit hole of internet search? Have you wondered how you can portray a really famous person in a new light? Or, have you never thought much about any of this but you’re curious – and want to dive into a subject’s story?

Then, you’re in the right space! In this 6-week workshop, perfect for writers at all stages of their journalism careers, we will dive into the world of profile writing. We will find a subject, craft a pitch on the relevance and importance of their story, go out and research and interview the subject and people around the subject, find conflict and tension in the subject's story, and write a story which is dynamic, expansive, and multi-dimensional. At the end of week six, every student will have a fully finished profile story – and the skillset to pitch it to a magazine or a website.

The main goal of the workshop is to build the toolkit you would need to identify, report, and write a good profile story including interviewing techniques, finding the narrative arc, scene building, and landing the end. Using readings of prolific profile writers like Kevin Nguyen, Michael Schulman, Caity Weaver, Tom Junod, and D.T. Max, we will explore the elements that make a good profile great. I will also bring profile writers from the industry to share their reporting and writing process. In the past workshops, I've had profile writers like Michael Schulman from The New Yorker, John Hendrickson from The Atlantic, Gabriella Paiella from GQ, Katie Barnes from ESPN, and Zach Baron from GQ. Writers who workshopped their stories in my classes have gone on to publish with organizations like the New York Times, Elle, The Cut and Scientific American.

By the end of this course, you will have a workshopped profile story and the tools to pitch your story to a magazine or website, as well as the tools and confidence to build on your profile writing portfolio. Students can expect one intensive round of written feedback on their profile stories from me (on the first and the second draft), dissection of new and old long-form features, discussions about the path to publication, and one one-on-one meetings with me over six weeks to discuss their reporting and writing process.

COURSE TAKEAWAYS

- Insight into the art of writing long-form profiles

- Developing proficiency in the various elements needed in writing a profile story

- Detailed feedback from idea generation to final draft of the profile story

COURSE EXPECTATIONS

- Brainstorming and honing a profile story idea

- Reporting the story (including interviewing and researching)

- Writing and revising the story

- To read and provide verbal and written feedback to peers

About the Instructor

Aishwarya Kumar is a journalist, feature writer, yoga teacher, and an Indian immigrant to the US. As a staff writer for ESPN, she covers the intersection of sports, race, culture, identity, immigration, religion, politics and war. Her long-form story, "The Grandmaster Diet," was featured in The Best American Sports Writing 2020. Her work has been published in ESPN, National Geographic, Vice, Independent Media, The Hindu , and The New Indian Express. She has a BA in journalism from India and an MSc in journalism with special focus on feature writing from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. She lives with her husband Jack and dog Laddu in Hartford, Connecticut.

Student Testimonials

"Aishwarya is such a dedicated and passionate teacher. She treats us like a community of working writers and gives us hands-on, real-world guidance drawn from her extensive experience as a writer and reporter that I thought I would only get in a graduate program or a staff writer position. I have learned so much not only from my own writing project but also from the incredible visiting writers she brings in to speak to us, the readings she assigns, and the other resources she so generously shares. Her energy and excitement for this work are infectious. I can't wait to take more classes from Aish. I know I still have so much more to learn from her!" – Rachel Ketai, former student

"Aishwarya is a thoughtful, insightful instructor who knows how to pinpoint a good idea and tease it out into a compelling long-form feature. She’s an endless source of useful advice and anecdotes, and is incredibly generous with both her time and her expertise. It has been a huge privilege to learn from her. From having no experience in long-form journalism, reporting, or interviewing before I started Aish’s class, I’m now feeling confident to develop my ideas, research and interview sources, and write long-form stories." – Ayla Norris Smith, former student

"I am so grateful to have met Aish through her Long-Form Article Workshop class. I had been stuck on a writing project for years and through her class and coaching, I was finally able to unblock my writing and get started putting pen to paper. In her workshop Aish focused on helping me find my voice and direction. She gave us prompts to guide us in how to think about what we are trying to accomplish with our writing. I loved the different kinds of exercises she gave us to give us clear structure for our pieces, as well as the assigned articles to read which led to in-depth discussions about how to craft our own narratives. Aish always inspired us to dig deeper into our work in order to connect with the heart of the stories we were trying to tell. As a teacher, she is extremely kind and giving. She is conscientious, attentive and always goes above and beyond for her students. Her door is always open for questions and her feedback is always thought-provoking. I appreciate her encouragement and relentless belief in our ability to get to where we want to be with our writing. Aish is the best writing mentor a struggling writer could hope for! " — Wela Quan, former student

The Art of the Profile, 6 Sessions with Aishwarya Kumar