Rafaela Jinich is a bilingual reporter majoring in Journalism and Political Science with a certificate in Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. She is set to graduate in June 2025. Currently, she reports for the the city desk at the Chicago Sun-Times, where she covers breaking news across a range of beats in the Chicago area, with several of her stories featured on the newspaper's front page.
 
Rafaela is passionate about covering topics including business, the economy, technology, foreign policy, politics, and law, and enjoys exploring other areas of coverage as well. 

This past summer, Rafaela worked at Bloomberg News in New York City as a reporter on the Energy and Commodities team, where she covered a range of topics including renewable energy, clean tech, power, climate politics, natural disasters and weather. She wrote and published over 15 articles for online publication, including investigations, explainers, newsletters, and breaking news. Prior to joining Bloomberg, she worked at NBC News as a news production intern. Originally from Bogotá, Colombia, Rafaela also worked at El Espectador, one of Colombia's largest national newspaper, covering politics during the 2022 presidential transition. ​

During her junior year, Rafaela spent a quarter reporting in Washington, D.C., with Capitol Hill press credentials for the Medill News Service, covering news within the sphere of national security, foreign affairs and criminal justice. One of the investigations she covered while in D.C. was featured on the front page of The Detroit News. Rafaela is the lead writer and editor for Northwestern's Medill Magazine​, the online alumni magazine of the Medill School of Journalism. She also contributes to North By Northwestern, a student-run online magazine, where she has worked as editor for the Politics section.

​​

In addition to reporting, Rafaela enjoys photojournalism and capturing powerful moments through photography. She is also interested in learning how to better engage audiences and make journalism more accessible.