Laura Joyce Robertson

Investigative journalist

I’m a journalist interested in money flows, the intersections of business and politics, and how those things affect people on the ground. Long term, I hope to use my skills to report on conflict and migration.

I grew up in a rural part of upstate New York, right where Appalachia meets the rust belt. During high school, I was a classical singer and eventually a Rotary Youth Exchange Student in Uttaradit, Thailand.

In 2024, I graduated from Princeton with a degree in history and minors in journalism, Persian language and culture, and Latin American studies.

Since then, I’ve worked in Nome, Alaska and Syracuse, New York, and freelanced from Tajikistan and upstate New York. I speak Farsi and some Thai, and am learning Spanish.

These days, I try to combine my interest in document and data-driven investigations with my language skills to write in-depth stories. My story on deaths in New York jails won the 2025 Nellie Bly Cub Reporter award from the New York Press Club. My work has received funding from the Overseas Press Club and the Fund for Investigative Journalism.

At the moment, I’m a staff reporter at Central Current, where I cover local government and sometimes immigration. When I’m not writing, I’m dancing salsa, practicing Muay Thai, or taking long walks on the phone with friends.