About Me
My name is Jaxson Schor (he/him) and I am a journalist and freelance writer based in Baltimore, MD. As a child, I would write any chance I got - countless rambling novels have been lost to the winds of time, thanks to sudden strikes of inspiration leading to napkin scribbles, chapters in notebook margins, and 12 different Word documents at a time. Now, I have mildly better file management, but more importantly work in my dream field.
I'm passionate about featuring marginalized individuals and communities in my work, as I find my love for writing is best used in shining a spotlight on the incredible stories that are systemically left lying in the dark.
After a brief stint (and by that I mean an entire associate's degree) in S.T.E.M. I made one of the most terrifying decisions of my life, dropped out of my engineering internship a day before I began, and switched my major from Computer Science to English. Almost immediately after starting my first journalism class, I started working as a news reporter for my school's student-run newspaper, and the rest is history.
I am currently a regular contributor to Barista Magazine, where I get to combine my two favorite things in the world: writing and coffee. Every article I have written for this publication has been an incredible experience, but starting my own series, "Inclusivity in Coffee," has been such a highlight of my career so far. The chance to interview coffee professionals from so many diverse backgrounds every issue, learn from their perspectives, and hear first-hand about so many incredible people and projects going on in the coffee industry has been indescribably amazing - and makes me feel even luckier to work in this field.
Before graduating from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) Honors College with my English Communications B.A. in 2023, I was awarded both the 2023 English Department Journalism award and the 2022 Lavender Advocate of the Year Award. I also recently concluded an editorial internship at a nonprofit focused on social justice and environmental sustainability, where I gained first-hand copyediting experience and wrote articles on environmental news, large-scale sustainability topics, and more personalized topics for readers to incrementally change their own lives.
In today's world when genuine, hard-hitting journalism is becoming increasingly harder to find, it can be hard sometimes to feel optimistic about developing a writing career. However, when I hang up from an interview, when I start writing a new article, when I see a new piece published...the fire in me is relit and I can't wait to get going on my next assignment. I'm excited for the opportunities that lie ahead and hope to keep working to make the world a better place doing what I do best.