Sona Patel

Sona Patel is an accomplished professional in journalism and social media strategy, currently serving as the Program and Editorial Director for the Local Investigations Fellowship at The New York Times since October 2012, collaborating with former executive editor Dean Baquet. Additional roles at The New York Times include Director of Community & User Generated Content, Senior Social Strategy & UGC Editor, and Staff Editor for Social Media, where Patel has been instrumental in fostering reader engagement and training journalists in modern reporting techniques. Additionally, Patel is an Adjunct Lecturer at California State University, Long Beach. Previous experience includes Producer for Social Media at The Seattle Times, where Patel established the newsroom's social media strategy, and roles at The (San Luis Obispo) Tribune and City of Irvine (ICTV Channel 30). Sona Patel holds a Bachelor of Arts in Literary Journalism and Spanish from UC Irvine and completed a professional course at General Assembly in 2016.