Juliana Reyes: the newest Technically Philly reporter joins from the Philly Daily News

Juliana Reyes sometimes wears big glasses, but sometimes she does not. It might throw you off.

So you should get to know her: last month, she became the newest Technically Philly reporter, joining us from the city services beat at the Philadelphia Daily News. (See her first month’s work here and welcome her by dropping a line @juliana_f_reyes or juliana@technicallyphilly.com.)

The other essentials: Her work at the Daily News was dedicated to trying to fix people’s problems with City Hall, as part of a project called “It’s Our Money,” so she knows how to report deeply on a challenged, varied community with serious journalism chops.

She is learning to drive, learning to bike (in the city) but is an expert at taking SEPTA. She grew up in North Jersey and Manila in the Philippines but she left the tropics for Bryn Mawr College, where she majored in linguistics — if you speak French, you should probably ask her about her time at the Sorbonne.

Turns out, she can also play wiffleball and handle an afternoon glass of whiskey — those of you who have visited the Technically Philly newsroom in Center City know they are staples of our productivity. With all that excitement in mind, we are sad to say that Reyes coming on coincides with our losing our first full-time reporter, Yael Borofsky, who will be starting graduate studies at MIT in the fall. We wish her the best, but won’t bother with an Exit Interview, because we know Philadelphia will always be her favorite.

As for Reyes, she now lives in South Philly. She thought she’d live there forever but it looks like she was wrong — she’ll be moving to West Philly later this summer.