Born in Iran and raised in New York City, Roja Heydarpour is a writer, editor, and teacher. She has worked for The Daily Beast, The New York Times, Al-Monitor, and Columbia Global Reports, among others, and is currently working in the void that is long-form writing.

She teaches citizenship preparation classes and ESOL at the Brooklyn Public Library, where she is able to work with people who have just arrived to the city, as well as those who have been here for years.

She joined the team at The De|Center, an organization that works at the intersection of tech, society, and social justice.

Roja's started with daily reporting and editing, where she honed her skills in major newsrooms. However, she was curious to do more in-depth narratives. So far, this shift has led to work ghostwriting personal memoirs and editing a comprehensive book-length human rights report.

Most recently, she was a writer-in-residence at Hedgebrook and an Open City fellow at the Asian American Writers Workshop, which cleared a path for her to pivot toward long-form work.