When Maeve Sanford-Kelly ’26 arrives at the Midtown headquarters of MS NOW (the cable news channel formerly known as MSNBC), Times Square is a version of itself few people get to see. The streets are quiet. Tourists are scarce. It is long before sunrise, although the fluorescent billboards cast more than enough light. She is with the rest of the morning broadcast crew, clocking in for her shift at “Ana Cabrera Reports”: 5:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.
In a single afternoon, thousands of protestors gathered in the streets of Tehran, tensions escalated with federal agents in Minneapolis, and Jerome Powell responded to the Department of Justice’s criminal investigation into the Fed. The production team organized segments on all three in a matter of hours.
For Sanford-Kelly, a production intern, this means preparing research, creating graphics, and stepping in to help with all the ad hoc tasks that arise when producing a television show.
“As a history major, I’m interested in what it means to live in a digital media age and field so much disinformation,” she said. “How do we approach talking to the public about international relations when there are all of these different forces that shape how people see the news?”
The chance to gain first-hand professional experience in media and politics was a driving factor in Sanford-Kelly’s decision to attend Barnard College. She transferred to Barnard as a sophomore, eager to take advantage of life in New York City — the international center of news, culture, and business — and the resources of a world-class liberal arts college.
In summer 2024, she secured her first internship on the Hill. It was a role with the Senate Recording Studio and Media Galleries, the group tasked with keeping the press apprised of activities on the Senate floor. Here, Sanford-Kelly learned the inner workings of media coordination, from liaising with photographers for major events to assisting with the C-SPAN livestream.
As a junior, she enrolled in “Inside the Situation Room,” the Columbia University SIPA course co-taught by dean Keren Yarhi-Milo and former U.S. secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton. Sanford-Kelly had never taken an international relations course, but the opportunity to hear directly from Clinton about the decision-making behind critical moments in U.S. foreign policy felt unmissable. “This was the fall of 2024. The day after the presidential election, I got to show up to class and ask her about the outcome. Nothing else can replicate that.”
One benefit of “Inside the Situation Room” was the chance to speak to Clinton in office hours. At the time, these were on a ‘first come, first served’ basis, but Sanford-Kelly was prepared to wait. She showed up at the Columbia SIPA office 45 minutes early and earned her place as one of the first in line, speaking to Clinton more than once over the course of the semester. “I walked away from those conversations in awe of her,” Sanford-Kelly said.
Their paths crossed again in a few short months. In spring 2025, she applied for an internship at the Office of Hillary Rodham Clinton online, mentioning in the cover letter that she attended the Columbia SIPA class. The Office extended her an offer, and she spent the semester producing briefs for Clinton, preparing the Office for high-profile events, and completing archival work.
All roads led back to the Hill. This past summer, Sanford-Kelly worked with U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in his national press office — an internship she secured with guidance and funding from Beyond Barnard, the College’s integrated hub for career development.
“A core aspect of our work in supporting Barnard students and graduates is to coach them to make the crucial connections between their skills and experiences and the roles they're applying for,” said Amanda Dye, executive director of Beyond Barnard. “We are always incredibly proud to see truly unique and well-qualified students, like Maeve, achieve their goals.”
As she nears graduation, Sanford-Kelly is balancing her 5:30 a.m. call time at “Ana Cabrera Reports” with a full class schedule. This includes putting the final touches on her senior thesis. Her research centers around matrilineal power in congress: In the 1980s, Democratic Rep. Sala Burton mentored and endorsed Nancy Pelosi, then in her 40s, to take her seat in the House of Representatives.
Men did this all the time, but it was rare to see a woman leverage her influence to usher in a female successor. Pelosi, of course, went on to become a bellwether of women in U.S. politics, serving as the 52nd Speaker of the House — the first woman to hold the position.
The thesis project took Sanford-Kelly all the way to San Francisco, where she visited the California state archives, a trip made possible through the history department’s Bertha Vapnek Research Fellowship.
There’s a “natural connection” between her academic research and current work in news, she said: “So much of what I’ve learned in the classroom places us in our historical context. It acts as a frame of reference for what’s happening now.”
The internship opportunities model what a career in media or politics could look like, something she had “no sense of” before entering college. “I’m open to whatever comes my way after graduation,” Sanford-Kelly said. “I love everything I’ve done so far — all of it.”