Bhagyashree Garekar

US Bureau Chief, The Straits Times (Singapore)

Bhagyashree Garekar is an award-winning journalist currently serving as the US Bureau Chief for The Straits Times, Singapore’s national newspaper.
She covers major political, economic and social developments while travelling widely to capture the fascinating transformation of the world’s most powerful nation for her series American Evolution. In April 2025, she was named The Straits Times’ Journalist of the Year for her reportage of the 2024 presidential election campaign.
She was foreign editor at the newspaper from 2020 to 2023 and served as its US correspondent during the Bush and Obama administrations.
She produced ST’s first e-book, “Myanmar Sunrise,” which examined the country’s promising but short-lived transition from military rule. It won an award in 2013 from the Pacific Area Newspaper Publishers’ Association.
In 2015, she wrote “Living History,” marking the 170th anniversary of The Straits Times. It is among Asia’s oldest newspapers and with the distinction of publishing without a break except during World War II when the press was taken over by the invading Japanese army.
Bhagya began her career at India’s top financial daily, The Economic Times, with positions in New Delhi and Mumbai.
She is a Jefferson Fellow.