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Essdras Suarez, UF CJC Class of 1993

Today he’s a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner for photojournalism. But when Essdras Suarez first arrived at the University of Florida, he had a different career path in mind.

He was an 18-year-old hoping to specialize in magazine writing. But that changed once he had the opportunity to speak with a photo director from the National Geographic. Suarez decided to pursue a career in visual journalism instead. He graduated from the College of Journalism and Communications in 1993 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.

Suarez began his career interning at a publication in Fort Lauderdale before moving on to the Rocky Mountain News in Denver. He then spent 12 years at the Boston Globe, where he covered national and international stories, such as the war in Iraq; the massacre in Newton, Connecticut; and the deadly tsunami in Indonesian. His photography earned him two Spot News Pulitzer Prizes for his images of the Boston Marathon bombing and the shooting in Columbine, Colorado.

His career has taken him all over the world. As a photojournalist, he’s visited 60 countries. His images have been published by such publications as the New York Times, the Washington Post, Time magazine and the National Geographic.

He currently lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with his wife, Sara, and is the chief photographer for Million Eyez, an internet-based platform for photography. In addition, Suarez also teaches photography workshops and yoga classes based off of his own yoga style called visYoga.