I’m lucky enough to work with words for a living, helping tell stories, grow businesses, share ideas, and uncover truths we can all share.

Freelance Writer and Editor

2015-present

I’ve written for publications including The Week, the Chicago Tribune, the Baltimore Sun, and the San Francisco Chronicle and worked as a contributing writer at the Robin Hood Foundation, New York City’s largest poverty-fighting nonprofit.

I have also ghostwritten for clients across media and publishing, including Fortune 50 corporate leadership. I completed one ghostwritten book in 2016 and am working on another due in 2018.

I especially enjoy consulting with growing media organizations on branding, content strategy, and marketing and have worked with companies including California One and Spaceship Media on refining their messaging, business plans, and brands.

Head of Content

Cardwell Beach

2015-present

I joined the Brooklyn-based Cardwell Beach team to help accelerate their media, marketing, and business news and analysis vertical CB Central into a professional-quality weekly destination for business readers.

Together, we created a successful podcast series and transformed CB Central into a fully-functioning platform for news, analysis, and commentary about the twin businesses of marketing and media.

Since then, I’ve taken on assignments in content strategy, creative execution, and copywriting both internally and for organizations including the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, for which our work won a Gold ADDY Award from the American Advertising Federation of Las Vegas.

Special Correspondent

Los Angeles Times

2014-2018

Joining the newsroom as a fellow in 2014, I’ve covered breaking news, features, and regional stories for the Los Angeles Times in Los Angeles, Washington, DC, and New York.

Across the country, I’ve reported on immigration protests, Secret Service shake-ups, border policy, extreme weather, and even the new face of the Coney Island boardwalk. And I’ve had the chance to collaborate on investigative deep dives, front-page big stories, and quiet, slice-of-life narrative features along the way.

Most recently, I spent more than three years as a special correspondent for the paper based in New York, where I also served as an acting bureau chief when needed.

Strategic Director

Global Journalist Security

2011-present

Founded by former colleagues from the Committee to Protect Journalists and experts in physical and digital security, Global Journalist Security was the first hostile environments training firm whose curriculum was designed specifically for civilians with key components like emotional self-care and stress management.

Since the company's founding, I’ve worked in all aspects of the business, from writing and developing educational material to strategic planning and development. I’m proud to work with a compassionate, innovative team and even prouder of the hundreds of journalists, NGO professionals, and human rights activists we’ve trained to stay safe while doing important work.

The company has been profiled in the New Yorker, Foreign Policy, USA Today, Agency France-Presse, and WGBH’s The World, and was featured on The Daily Show.

Lead Writer

ViewFind

2015-2016

I was the fourth full-time hire at ViewFind, a start-up dedicated to finding a new revenue stream for photojournalists, the group arguably hardest hit by newspaper and magazine cutbacks and lay-offs. During my time at ViewFind, I led the process of developing a written voice for the site, as well as working closely with hundreds of photojournalists on first-person and reported essays. I also spearheaded the branded content program which helped drive revenue during the first two years of operation.

While at the company, ViewFind was ranked the number one news app and a featured app in the Apple iTunes store.

Copywriter

Home Care Assistance

2010-2013

As a lead copywriter and marketing manager at Home Care Assistance, a national home healthcare provider, I was responsible for creating print and digital educational and advertising campaigns for corporate offices ranging from Washington, DC to New York.

Among the nationwide campaigns I produced were From Hospital to Home Care, which was created alongside experienced registered nurses and care coordinators, and What Is Home Care, an explainer that helped introduce the concept of in-home care to a wider audience.

Web Editor

Afro-American Newspapers

2008-2010

I joined the staff of the Afro-American—the country’s oldest continuously operating African-American weekly newspaper—to lead a digital project showcasing the paper’s coverage of the 2008 presidential race. I was promoted to web editor within three months and assembled the paper’s first-ever web staff.

By the time I departed, we had a three-person full-time web staff, a new content management system, and had completed a site-wide redesign. During my time at the Afro, I led digital coverage of Michael Jackson’s death, the resignation of Baltimore mayor Sheila Dixon, and major citywide redevelopment programs, as well as the implementation of the newspaper’s extensive digital archives dating back to 1902.

Journalist Security Researcher

Committee to Protect Journalists

2006-2008

From 1992 to 2007, CPJ had collected 15 years of data on journalists killed worldwide. It was my job, as a journalist security researcher, to develop a database from these records, analyze that database, and produce a comprehensive understanding of what the numbers told us.

Our findings that local journalists covering conflict, crime, and corruption in countries like Iraq and the Philippines are most at risk of being targeted for their work sadly still hold true today.

I wrote the cover story of the Fall 2006 edition of Dangerous Assignments, CPJ’s magazine, which was featured at the 2006 CPJ International Press Freedom Awards. I revisited the data in 2007, 2008, and 2013 for additional analysis on impunity in the killings of journalists. I’m proud to say the database is still in use today and was featured in the New York Times in 2016.

Education

I'm a graduate of Johns Hopkins University (BA, Anthropology) and Stanford University (MA, Communication).