Overview:

  • Nadia Ziyad, 22, from Detroit's New Center, joins as Community Engagement Journalism Intern after working with Detroit Documenters covering public meetings.
  • Maggie Quinn, 22, a recent Oakland University graduate, will serve as Water Education & Community Outreach Intern focused on helping families understand environmental issues.
  • Both interns will work from the Green Garage through September, with support from the Sustainability Institute of Detroit and Pure Oakland Water.

Planet Detroit is kicking off the summer with two new faces on our team: Nadia Ziyad and Maggie Quinn. They’ll be with us at the Green Garage through September, and we’re thrilled to have them.

Nadia Ziyad, Detroit Community Engagement Journalism Intern

Nadia Ziyad will focus on connecting with Detroit audiences and groups to support Planet Detroit’s reporting and audience growth. Photo by Dustin Blitchok.

Ziyad, 22, lives in Detroit’s New Center neighborhood and came to journalism through an unlikely path. After attending Detroit Edison Public School Academy and taking classes at Wayne State, she connected with the Detroit Documenters, and that’s where things clicked.

She started attending public meetings, taking notes, and eventually moved into live reporting, posting real-time updates from government meetings on Bluesky.

She now mentors newer Documenters and recently led a community-of-practice workshop focused on skill-sharing.

When she talks about the work, you get the sense she just wants to keep going.

“I just be wanting more,” she said. “I’m excited because I get to do more.”

Outside of the newsroom, Ziyad is a self-described lover of movies, TV, and books. She recently watched the Netflix adaptation of “Lord of the Flies” and had thoughts. (The pacing was a little awkward, but the climax paid off. The fisheye camera work? Distracting, but she gets what they were going for.)

Ziyad’s internship is underwritten by the Sustainability Institute of Detroit.

Maggie Quinn, Water Education & Community Outreach Intern

Maggie Quinn will focus on creating content to help build awareness of water resources issues across Metro Detroit. Photo by Dustin Blitchok.

Quinn, also 22, recently graduated from Oakland University with a degree in public relations and strategic communications and a minor in digital media production.

She grew up in the Grosse Pointe area before moving to Huntington Woods about four years ago, so she knows both sides of the Wayne-Oakland county line.

What drew her to Planet Detroit: the chance to help families understand the environmental issues shaping their communities.

She’s especially interested in figuring out how to talk about complicated topics with kids.

“It’s not just about explaining how stuff is going on,” she said, “but also, especially if you’re working for a family newsletter, how do I talk about this with kids?”

When she’s not working, Quinn is probably near a body of water. She loves being outside, is reading John Green’s “Everything is Tuberculosis” (“probably one of my favorite books I’ve ever read”), and spends a lot of time with her Jack Russell terrier-Chihuahua mix, Finnegan. He’s feisty, but loved.

Maggie’s internship is underwritten by Pure Oakland Water.

Nina Misuraca Ignaczak is an award-winning Metro Detroit-based editor, journalist, and documentary filmmaker. She is the founder, publisher, and editor of Planet Detroit, a digital media startup focused on producing quality climate, health, and environment journalism that holds power accountable, and spotlights solutions. Planet Detroit has received awards and recognition from the Society for Professional Journalists Detroit, the Institute for Nonprofit News, and LION Publishers since its establishment in 2019. Prior to her journalism career, Nina worked in urban planning in local government and nonprofit sectors, holding a Master of Science in Natural Resource Ecology and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.