Natalie A Rahhal
Journalist + Editor
A Bit About Me
I specialize in health and science, with the goal of making each more human.
I was most recently U.S. Health Editor for DailyMail.com, a role I assumed as the COVID-19 pandemic became among the biggest stories of the past century. During my time at the Mail, I wrote and edited hundreds of stories on everything from psychology, neurology and suicide, to health disparities, the opioid epidemic and Lyme disease. And, of course, every element of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Previously, I covered the highly technical - but insidiously impactful - intellectual property area of law for a trade publication, wrote about arts, culture and Americana music, worked in UX/UI and editorial design and took a slew of odd jobs, including an (uncredited) role as a bartender in a reality TV show, working in a fabrication shop and co-producing events.
After seven years working for others in journalism, I’ve decided to strike out on my own as a freelance writer and editor, to focus on my own projects and continue to apply my eye for detail, love of science and passion for telling stories to a broader range of topics.
About Prismatic Editorial
The tired saying goes that the job of journalism is to shine a light - into dark places, on voices that deserve amplification, upon underreported phenomenon. Prismatic Editorial's mission is to do this and more, by functioning as our namesake does: Taking a beam of light and breaking it into its component parts and complexities. Natalie's background as a health and science reporter equips her and her team to do just this through thorough and thoughtful research, writing and editing. Let's get complicated, but clear, together!
Teammates!
Saleem Albatniji
Research Associate Saleem is our context comptroller. He's a bit of a geek for antiquity, but no period of history - including the pieces happening right now on Twitter and the internet's weirdest corners - is safe from his discerning eye.
NATALIE'S WORK EXPERIENCE
DAILYMAIL.COM
September 2017 - May 2021
EUROMONEY INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR
February 2015-September 2017
THE YEAR I DID EVERYTHING
September 2014-February 2015
Hired as a health reporter in fall 2017, was promoted to deputy editor at the end of my first year there. Became Acting US Health Editor in August 2019 and was officially named US Health Editor in August 2020. Managed a senior reporter and directed health- and pandemic-related coverage in coordination with the New York news desk and London office. Published over 1,000 articles on every conceivable topic in health, medicine, healthcare and, of course, the pandemic. Developed COVID-19 data tracking systems and visualizations, trained newsroom on using, tracking and reporting data, performed near-daily analyses of COVID-19 data. Hired and trained a new staff health reporter and freelance health reporter.
I began as a researcher and writer for legal rankings publication “IP Stars,” where I conducted research on and interviews with law firms in the U.S. and Latin America. I was promoted to Deputy Editor of the publication, introduced new data analytics procedures and conducted in-person interviews on the road. I was given a second promotion to work as a reporter on the trade magazine “Managing Intellectual Property,” where notable coverage included the copyright battle over “Stairway to Heaven” and the patent disputes surrounding the revolutionary CRISPR gene-editing tool.
Learned to bartend, did so at two bars, at exclusive private parties and on the reality TV show “Little Women of New York” (sadly, uncredited). Worked in digital fabrication, assisting artists in the production and execution of large-scale installations and 3-D mapped interactive sculptures. Waited tables. Wrote reviews of photography shows. Designed a website for a healthcare nonprofit in Rwanda, reviewed interactive theater for The Guardian US, and worked as a freelance photo editor, assistant and social media editor to a photographer. For a brief period I did all of these simultaneously. At another, two of them overlapped with my full time work for Euromoney Institutional Investor.
TLDR: The New York City hustle.
THE ATAVIST
June 2014-September 2014
As an editorial intern at The Atavist, my primary responsibilities were working on all aspects of the design and production of the multimedia elements of our monthly stories. This entailed working with the editorial team to conceptualize the design, gathering media and the necessary permissions, working with the editorial designer to make the final selections and placements of these elements within our stories, editing existing media and creating new multimedia elements.