About

Farah Otero-Amad

Farah Otero-Amad is an experienced journalist and video producer from Berkeley, California. She currently works on the Reporter Video team at The New York Times. In 2022, she was awarded a Fulbright scholarship for young professional journalists. She was selected from across the country to represent U.S. journalists in Berlin, Germany. 

Before joining The Times, Farah was a TV producer for the Emmy-nominated show on Apple TV+: The Problem with Jon Stewart. Prior to that, she was admitted to NBC’s esteemed News Associates program—whose stated goal is to identify outstanding aspiring journalists in news production. As a staff journalist at NBC News, she wrote dozens of articles and produced short documentaries for digital platforms. Farah also worked on a feature-length investigative series on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell for Peacock TV.

Farah graduated with the highest honors from the University of Pennsylvania in 2018, where she received awards and prizes for her work in international affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid’s Press Office and at the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Populations, Refugees, and Migration. In 2019, she earned her Master’s degree from Columbia’s Journalism School. Her thesis was published on NBCNews.com, featuring the first Muslim girl to compete in a hijab for the U.S.A National Karate team. 

Farah is fluent in English, Spanish, and Arabic. In her spare time, she mentors high schoolers in filmmaking to create short personal films about their lives and communities at Reel Works in Brooklyn.

Awards

  • Davis Projects for Peace Award Colombia, 2024

  • Berlin Capital Program Fulbright Award, 2022

  • International House of New York Digital Media Fellow, 2021-2023 

  • Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Graduate Fellow, 2018 

  • Fulbright English Teaching Award Argentina, 2018

  • Jack G. Shaheen Mass Communications Scholarship Award, 2018

  • Mitsui Scholar, International House NYC, 2018

  • Summa Cum Laude and Dean’s List University of Pennsylvania, 2018

  • Pi Sigma Alpha, Political Science Honors Society, 2017-2018

  • Sphinx Senior Honors Society, University of Pennsylvania 2017-2018

  • U.S Embassy in Madrid Press Fellow, 2017

  • U.S. State Department Bureau of Populations, Refugees, and Migration Fellow, 2016