Author: Janessa Hilliard

Janessa is a native Phoenician and print journalism student at ASU's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She currently resides in Downtown Phoenix, where she's spent much of her life — from running rampant through the halls of the Arizona Republic building when she was younger, to ditching school to explore South Mountain. Part of attending the Cronkite School at ASU and growing up with parents who have backgrounds in journalism means Janessa is well aware of the changing industry she's getting into. Fortunately, she is naïve enough to believe that good, investigative, hard-hitting journalism can change the world. Luckily, at the moment, Janessa is most interested in helping Downtown Phoenix develop into the city she feels it can be. After watching Phoenix remain stagnant for many years, she feels the influx of new shops, restaurants and community organizations is impressive. She's looking forward to writing for DPJ as a way to expose fellow city dwellers to the hidden gems and infectious energy Downtown has to offer. Janessa has a terrible penchant for driving with her gaslight on. While she wishes she could attribute this to her devil-may-care attitude, the truth is she'd rather spend her savings on shoes instead of tanks of gas. Ideally, you might find her at some indie coffee shop Downtown, wearing high heels and simultaneously catching up on "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" and retweeting something Joel Stein said. In actuality, when not pushing deadline on articles, checking Facebook in class or driving across the country with a friend's band, you can find Janessa at her swanky Roosevelt apartment, burning dinner or curled up in her Snuggie. Janessa has also written for The State Press, State Press Magazine and The Arizona Republic. She hopes to one day write for Vogue or Rolling Stone. Or Playboy, since the majority of men subscribe to "read the articles."

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