Shira Hanau is the Seminar & Writers Workshop Advisor for Shalom Hartman Institute of North America and a staff writer at the Jewish Telegraphic Agency where she covers Orthodox Judaism and the New York Jewish community. During the pandemic, she took a lead role in covering the impact of COVID on Jewish communities across the country. She was previously a staff writer at the New York Jewish Week.

Shira is the recipient of multiple journalism awards including a first place Rockower Award in personality profiles in 2020 for a story produced in partnership with New York Magazine as well as the Rookie of the Year award from the New York Press Association in 2018. She is a member of the 2021 journalism cohort for the Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics (FASPE).