Madhu Krishnamurthy is a staff writer who currently covers governments and schools within Des Plaines, Elk Grove Village, Rosemont and environs, human interest and political stories, as well as diversity topics.

Madhu joined the Daily Herald in 2000 in the Lake County bureau. After eight years there, she joined the Cook County staff in January 2009. Madhu is one of a few mobile-journalists at the Daily Herald producing multimedia projects including her own photos and videos. She chairs the Editorial Diversity Committee and is a member of the Paddock's companywide Diversity Committee whose goals are to broaden employees' understanding of the various cultures represented within and reflect the diversity of the communities it serves through its news products. Madhu has done extensive work covering issues facing the Muslim, Arab, Latino and Hindu communities in the suburbs.

She has been a frequent guest on ABC 7 Chicago News, and has given several radio interviews about her exclusive news reports. Madhu was a finalist for the 2010 Peter Lisagor Award for Best Investigative Reporting, and was part of a team of reporters who won the 2010 Lisagor Award for Best Deadline Reporting.

Prior to joining the Daily Herald, she worked at The Edmond Sun, a small daily newspaper covering Edmond, Okla. There she worked as a writer, copy editor and paginator, designing and laying out the front and inside sections of the paper every day. She interned at the Daily Oklahoman and The Edmond Sun after graduating from the University of Central Oklahoma in 1998 with a bachelor of arts in newspaper journalism. She is a member of the Asian American Journalists Association-Chicago and the South Asian Journalists Association.

She speaks four languages: English, Hindi, Urdu and Tamil, and is currently learning Spanish. Madhu grew up in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where her interest in journalism was first sparked by watching 24/7 CNN coverage of the Persian Gulf War.

A first generation immigrant to the U.S., Madhu lives on Chicago's Northwest side. To view Madhu's professional Facebook page, visit DhMadhuKrishnamurthy or follow her on Twitter at dh_madhuk.