About Uliana Pavlova

Uliana Pavlova is a journalist and editorial producer whose work focuses on Russia, Ukraine, political repression, migration and the human consequences of geopolitical change. She has worked across international reporting, digital journalism, television production and live breaking-news coverage.

At CNN, where she was Russia producer on the International desk from 2021 to 2024, Pavlova reported, wrote and produced coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the military buildup that preceded it, the crackdown on opposition inside Russia, and Yevgeny Prigozhin’s failed mutiny. She is a credited producer on CNN Worldwide coverage recognised with a News & Documentary Emmy and a 2023 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Silver Baton.

Pavlova reported for The Moscow Times through 2020 and 2021, covering politics, civil society, protest movements and the pressure facing independent voices in Russia, and returned to its pages as a contributor in 2025. She has written magazine features for POLITICO, reported from Moscow for The Associated Press, and worked for Bloomberg Industry Group and MLex Market Insight.

She now works at the intersection of journalism, audience engagement and digital strategy, developing mobile-first storytelling, social video and editorial packaging designed to help important reporting reach the people who need it.

Audience and digital strategy

Audience growth and digital distribution for one of Chicago’s largest newsrooms. She develops and executes social strategy across Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, X, Bluesky and Reddit — social-first video, explainer carousels and visual storytelling — curates the homepage, and writes the audience-focused headlines, push alerts and platform-specific copy that carry breaking news and major coverage to readers. She analyses content and platform performance to identify audience trends and optimise distribution.

• Social strategy

  Social-first video, explainer carousels and visual storytelling, developed and executed across Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, X, Bluesky and Reddit.

• Breaking news and homepage

  Homepage curation, audience-focused headlines, push alerts and platform-specific copy written around breaking news and major coverage.

• Analytics and growth

  Content and platform performance analysis to identify audience trends, optimise distribution and find openings for engagement and growth.

Works across

• Parse.ly
• Marfeel
• Brightspot CMS
• Airtable
• Canva
• Premiere Pro
• Merlin

Selected organizations

Chicago Sun-Times

Audience Engagement Specialist
Feb 2025 – Present · Chicago, Illinois (Hybrid)

Chicago Public Media (WBEZ)

Audience Engagement Specialist
Feb 2025 – Present · Chicago, Illinois

CNN

Russia Producer
Nov 2021 – Dec 2024 · Moscow

POLITICO Magazine

Contributing Writer (freelance)
Dec 2021 – Apr 2022

Sky News

Freelance producer
2021 – 2022

The Telegraph

Freelance journalist
2021 – 2022

The Associated Press

Freelance News Reporter
Sep 2021 – Mar 2022 · Moscow

The Moscow Times

News Reporter
Nov 2020 – Nov 2021 · Moscow

Bloomberg Industry Group

Freelance Journalist
Sep 2020 – Nov 2020 · Moscow

Bloomberg News

Reporter — consumer, retail and trade coverage
2018

MLex Market Insight

Junior Reporter
Aug 2019 – Jul 2020 · Washington, DC

CNN

Investigative Intern
Sep 2018 – Dec 2018 · Washington, DC

Education

University of Missouri-Columbia

Master’s degree, Data and Investigative Journalism
2017 – 2018

University of Missouri-Columbia

Bachelor of Journalism, International Convergence
2013 – 2017