Andrea Elliott

We are honored to welcome Andrea Elliott as the keynote speaker for JALA’s Equal Justice Awards. A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Elliott has dedicated her career to documenting the lives of marginalized communities, including poor Americans and Muslim immigrants. As an investigative reporter for The New York Times and author of the acclaimed book Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival, and Hope in an American City, Elliott brings unparalleled insight into the struggles and resilience of those living on the fringes of society.

Invisible Child is a powerful narrative that follows eight years in the life of Dasani Coates, a young girl growing up in a Brooklyn homeless shelter. With an imagination as expansive as the city’s towering skyscrapers, Dasani navigates the challenges of poverty, family instability, and systemic inequities. Elliott traces the historical journey of Dasani’s ancestors from slavery to the Great Migration, providing a poignant backdrop to the modern-day struggles faced by Dasani and her family. As New York City’s homelessness crisis deepens, Dasani is forced to guide her seven siblings through a maze of obstacles, including hunger, parental addiction, violence, and segregated schools. When Dasani enrolls in a Pennsylvania boarding school, she must balance her loyalty to her family with the demands of a new environment, confronting the difficult question of whether escaping poverty means leaving her loved ones behind.

Elliott’s storytelling is both heartbreaking and inspiring, shedding light on critical issues of inequality and resilience in contemporary America through the lens of one remarkable child. Her book, based on nearly a decade of reporting, has earned widespread acclaim for its profound exploration of family, hope, and the cost of inequality.

In addition to her Pulitzer Prize for Invisible Child, Elliott has received numerous accolades, including the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize, a George Polk Award, and an Overseas Press Club Award. She was also awarded the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for feature writing. In 2023, Elliott joined Princeton University as a visiting lecturer and Ferris Professor of Journalism. Her exceptional contributions to journalism have been recognized with Columbia University’s Medal for Excellence and honorary doctorates from Occidental College and Niagara University, the latter praising her “courage, perseverance, and a commitment to fairness for those without a public voice.”

Before her tenure at The New York Times, Elliott reported for The Miami Herald, covering crime, immigration, and Latin American politics. Raised in Washington, D.C., by a Chilean mother and an American father, she attended Occidental College and earned a master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.

We are thrilled to have Andrea Elliott share her insights and experiences at this year’s Equal Justice Awards.

For more information on Andrea Elliott, please visit her on Instagram, Twitter, or at andrea-elliott.com.