…A Few of My Favorite Things (Bio Page of Zahkia S.)

Hey.

My name is Zahkia, and I’m a blogger extroidinaire. Okay, maybe not–but I did blog for Road & Travel Magazine in 2008. Not only did I learn about the “Ten Cars You Must Drive Before You Die”, I learned about the wonderful world of search engine optimization. I spent my summer, glued to an ergonomic chair, repairing jump pages, eliminating word widows, and eventually became the master of meta-tags. And just when I thought I’d had enough of driving 30 miles to work every day, I took a winter job with the same magazine, as they prepared for a car awards show that was part of the NAIAS press week.

But to get to know me personally, you must know about my love for world culture. Before I’d turned 14, I’d traveled to seven different countries and had a good understanding of Spanish and French. As of recently, I started picking up some Arabic language skills by-proxy, thanks to my roommate and best friend. She openly shares so much of her culture with me that it’s made a deep impact on how I view culture and religion as a whole (and amazing food). It just happens that Islam is an extremely hot topic in the matters of news media these days, and I am lucky to advantage to understanding the conflicts because I am exposed to both Arab and non-Arab Muslim culture daily.

However, it’s my personal belief that to really get to know a person, you’ve got to know what that person likes about themselves. Of course, if you sit down and talk to me you will see that I’m 21 (though I don’t look a day over 16), and attend Michigan State after leaving a hefty scholarship at Western Michigan University. But you may not see the things that I like about myself, that truly make me who I am. So, at the risk of sounding like a snob, here are a few of my favorite things about myself, Zahkia Smith, journalist: