Yesterday was really difficult. It was a shock to be laid off, especially given that our Visual Forensics stories always topped our traffic metrics. I'm so grateful to VF for an amazing 3 years. A women-lead open source team, how incredibly rare in our increasingly shrinking world! Thank you for a dream job @nadineajaka I'm really moved by the kindness everyone has shown—through texts, DMs, calls... thank you! I wasn't expecting this outpouring of understanding and willingness to help me make my next moves. I was halfway through a couple of reporting lines on Iran that I want to see through, so I can honor the people who were brave enough to speak with me. If you want to work together, please DM or e-mail [email protected]. I'm a fluent Persian speaker (with French+Spanish language skills too) with nearly a decade of reporting on Iran, and investigations in Latin America, along with years of domestic US-coverage and video production. I'm hoping to keep covering Iran, doing open-source investigations and maybe even a second book? Or a nap. A nap would be good.