Nicole Ramos

Nicole Ramos joined the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism as a fellow with a global career spanning from farms in the Philippines to prisons across Texas. As someone who once envisioned life as a missionary, Ramos’ time at Abilene Christian University changed everything she understood about human rights, equity and justice.

She piloted the university’s Justice and Urban Studies program, implementing a design-learning curriculum in Dallas, Texas, schools. This culminated in accompanying a group of students to the global Change Conference in India to present their design-learning project. During her undergraduate experience, Ramos also worked on a goat farm in the Philippines and studied in Europe and Africa.

After graduating from ACU, Ramos joined the Peace Corps and lived in a village alongside indigenous subsistence farmers in Panama for two years. She organized community development projects, ranging from sexual health education for underrepresented groups to obtaining a grant to improve her community’s water systems.

Ramos earned a master’s degree in international relations from Northeastern University. In her most recent position as a mitigation specialist with Texas Defender Service, she conducted exhaustive investigations for capital and noncapital legal defense teams, strategically collaborating with them on representation. Over the course of her time at TDS, she fostered intentional relationships with clients on death row, advocating for their stories to be heard.

As a Howard fellow, Ramos is ecstatic about chasing her childhood dream of becoming a journalist. She hopes to incorporate her diverse background into a career investigating national and international human rights issues such as mass incarceration, extreme sentencing, social and environmental justice, and holding systems of power accountable.