Rhea Wessel - freelance writer, author

Freelance Writer

Rhea Wessel, M.A.

Rhea Wessel, born in 1969, began working as a foreign correspondent for the German Press Agency (dpa) in Hamburg in 1995. She wrote features for the English-language service from across Europe, including Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. Rhea also reported from the United Nations headquarters in New York.

After earning a Master of International Affairs degree from Columbia University, she moved to the Alabama foothills of the Appalachians to write features for The Anniston Star. The Star sent Rhea on a special trip to Russia to report on Alabama chicken exports, and her story earned her a spot in the book "The Best of Newspaper Writing 1999."

Rhea returned to Germany and joined Dow Jones Newswires in Frankfurt in 1999. For two years, she reported on telecommunications in Europe's most important market. Her coverage of the hostile takeover of Germany's Mannesmann by Vodafone of the UK in 2000 won her Dow Jones' highest honor - the Dow Jones Newswires Award.

Rhea quit Dow Jones to go freelance in 2001. In 2007, she began working on her first book.

An avid traveler and reader, Rhea contracted wanderlust in 1991 while sailing around the world with Semester at Sea, an undergraduate program through the University of Pittsburgh.

Rhea, which rhymes with day, as in sunny day, is a freelance writer based in Frankfurt. She particularly enjoys writing about innovative ideas, cross-cultural nuances and international affairs.