Alaa Elassar is a general assignment reporter and writer for CNN Digital. She is based in New York City.

Elassar joined CNN in 2016 and was a three-time intern and freelance writer before enlisting with the National team, where she splits her time between breaking news, explanatory articles and in-depth features.

As an Arab and Muslim American journalist, Elassar is interested in stories about culture, identity and representation, especially those from minority and marginalized communities. Her reporting has spanned topics across Native-American affairs, the Black Lives Matter movement, Asian-American hate, Islamophobia, women’s rights, and more.

Whether she’s reporting breaking news or writing features, Elassar strives to center the human experience — pulling in powerful voices, vivid color and sharp photography to bring her stories to life. She has reported from the scene of multiple mass shootings, including the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, the supermarket shooting in Buffalo, and the subway shooting in Brooklyn.

Before joining CNN, Elassar reported for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s politics bureau, where she wrote numerous front-page stories, including a feature on how a Georgia law helped expose and bring down former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar for sexual abuse.

Elassar is Egyptian Palestinian and was born in Alexandria, Egypt before immigrating to the United States from with her family. She is a graduate of Georgia State University and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.