Azhley Rodriguez
Staff Writer
As the world prepares for what could possibly become World War III, DU alumna Allison Quinn is working diligently to tell the stories of families at the forefront of the war in Ukraine.
Allison Quinn was once a student who roamed the halls of DU and ate from the Cyber Café just like everyone else.
The shy “lowkey” student who graduated summa cum laude and kept her head down, has since become a reporter on breaking news overseas.
“The war in Ukraine has been brewing at least for the past 8 years. Russia used proxies to invade in 2014, they simulated a civil war, and I think what we’re seeing now is the culmination of those efforts to win back Ukraine. We are in the middle of a massive event that could be WWIII,” according to Quinn.
Quinn graduated in 2007 with a BA in creative writing. At the time, she didn’t consider adding a major in journalism. “I wasn’t involved in journalism then; I didn’t write for the school paper or anything,” Quinn said.
After graduation, her career as a journalist began in the most unexpected way possible.
She traveled to Russia to do volunteer work in an orphanage. “It was meant to be only for a few weeks, but I kept extending my stay.” Quinn stated. “Ultimately, I decided to stay and learn the language. I didn’t have a plan other than learning the language and immersing myself in the culture.”
Her first job was “very boring” but pivotal to her career. She got hired as a copy editor for the Moscow Times, which “didn’t pay very well but helped her to memorize stylistic things,” Quinn joked. It was there that her career “accidentally” jumpstarted.
“I was living in Ukraine and working from home for the Kyiv Post, a friend contacted me and said, ‘The Daily Beast is looking for someone to do news briefs late at night New York time and want somebody in a different time zone’ and I did that part time. When I moved back [to the U.S.] I got a fill-time job and climbed the ranks and became a news editor. Now I’m much more involved.”
Now, Quinn is covering the war in Ukraine remotely for The Daily Beast. Her main source of interviews and information come from video calls with mothers and children in Ukraine and Russia.
“This is the closest we’ve ever been to World War III. It’s kind of strange to think as the whole world watches this, it’s history. It’s scary,” Quinn said. “I have been video chatting with Ukrainians, mainly mothers of young children. I want to see how these little kids are surviving, how do they understand it.”
The difficult calls sometimes include mothers and their children hiding in shelters to protect themselves from bombs.
“These were mostly people outside Kyiv hiding on farms that have bomb shelters and it was gut-wrenching to see,” Quinn sympathized. “I would talk to them, and they would keep looking up at the sky because they think there’s air strikes coming. The kids are aware that other kids are dying. I have a young kid. When I talk to other kids, I picture him experiencing it.”
Russia’s attacks on Ukraine have made it difficult and unsafe for Quinn to travel to Ukraine or Russia for interviews.
“I’ve done crime reporting and talked to parents of murdered children. These are situations where you want to be able to sit down and chat with them,” Quinn said.
“I think everybody has basically supported Ukraine, and its Russia against everyone. I have friends in Russia and Ukraine and ordinary Russians are going to bear the brunt of this even if they don’t support Putin. We’re seeing the iron curtain going down again, they took down their Facebook and news outlets. It’s pretty dark times over there,” Quinn stated.
