Though Ali doesn’t often blog herself, she co-founded (and co-runs) the Center for Independent Media, which makes it possible for a whole new breed of citizen journalists to do so across the country.
As solid investigative political reporting is all but gone in many states like Colorado (allowing politicians to make decisions completely unchecked, and destroying accountability), Ali and CIM are building, training, and funding blogger and local reporter networks that keep the decision makers in line and the public informed. CIM has gone from 0 to sound barrier since the spring of 2006; building infrastructure and raising funds faster than just about any nonprofit in the country - all while providing real investigative/on-the-ground reporting to the mainstream TV reporters and media in states like Iowa. CIM’s newest site, focused on Washington, DC (www.washingtonindependent.com), is already a huge hit in its first few weeks.
Ali is a graduate of Cornell University, with a bachelor’s of engineering in computer science and a master’s degree with a focus on computer security. Prior to jumping to the political arena, Ali held programming positions with companies such as Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, and Strategic Forecasting and Netegrity. In 2003, Alexandra left the software world for the Howard Dean campaign, where she worked on several projects in research, political and field. Following the Dean campaign, she worked on an assorted array of campaigns in various positions including grassroots organizer, Internet director, field director and Internet consultant. She has been around the political block in numerous states such as Iowa, South Carolina and New Jersey… the rest is history in the making.
