Michael Crooks is a senior journalist and editor with two decades of experience in reporting, writing and editing. After obtaining a BA (Communications) at Perth’s Murdoch University in 1995, he received a ScreenWest grant to produce a short film for SBS. This led to working in advertising production, and documentary research and production in London, including for a BBC documentary. Michael then returned to Australia and settled in Sydney where he pursued a career in journalism. He was employed by Time Inc. as a Staff Writer for Who before being promoted to Senior Editor, focussing on news, human interest and profile features. Among his achievements: an in-depth interview with Julian Assange inside his embassy refuge in London, overseeing feature articles on Prime Ministers Malcolm Turnbull and Tony Abbott—and commissioning the world exclusive interview with Janice Pinto, the daughter of the nurse who tragically killed herself in the ‘Royal hoax scandal’ of 2012. Michael now runs his own freelance business, covering human interest stories of survival, resilience and hope and his work has appeared in People, Marie Claire, Good Weekend, Who, The Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun, The Courier Mail, News.com.au, The New Daily, Qantas, and QantasLink Spirit.