San Diego Business Journal
I (Julie Poucher Harbin) served as a staff reporter, columnist, and photographer for the San Diego Business Journal from Sept. 2003 to June 2004, covering mainly small business trends (including a regular column small business profiles, and articles on franchising, wildfire loss and recovery, and the domestic Hispanic labor market); world trade/international business (including a regular column, the Mexican maquiladora industry/biotech and automaker outsourcing, contracting opportunities abroad, Asian shrimp tariffs); water issues (including water shortages, water reclamation, and desalination), and green business (including recycling as a business advantage). I also wrote executive profiles (2003-2004) and covered large-scale manufacturing, boomer-targeted RV sales, and sports & urban development, among other topics.

AWARDS: First Place-Breaking News for ‘A Fiery Week for San Diego’ and third place-political/ government for ‘San Diego’s Trash a Gold Mine for Recyclers’ by the San Diego Press Club • Best Investigative/Enterprise Story or Series for ‘Marching to a New Beat’ (inc. ‘Oceanside Slowly Sheds Its Image as a Military Town’ and ‘Oceanside’s Eastern Edge Sees Major Growth’) by the San Diego chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

Between summer 2004 and winter 2006, I freelanced for the San Diego Business Journal:
 • While based in Kabul, Afghanistan (August 2004 – March 2005), I wrote a personal reflections piece about life in Afghanistan and reported on entrepreneurs with a personal stake in Afghanistan rebuilding efforts, the business connections between San Diego and Afghanistan, and opportunities for American investment (all accompanied by photos I took).
 • While based in San Diego, CA (January 2006), I tracked trends in San Diego’s commercial real estate market (including foreign investment, local job growth, and increased opportunities for property management firms) and also reported on the agriculture industry outlook, including avocado farming.