Biography

My boss at ESPN The Magazine, where I’m a senior editor, has a pet theory that everyone is very, very good at five things. Sometimes big, more often than not small, they are always the things that illuminate and define us. My five explain my career path as well as anything else:

I’m good at getting in the door. I graduated from Harvard with a degree in government and took a job as a management consultant in Washington, D.C. Pretty soon I was more interested in the magazine all my colleagues were reading than in running spreadsheets — so I wrote an impassioned letter to the editors of Fast Company explaining why they should hire me. And then I called them every day for three months. I left my consulting job, attended the Radcliffe Publishing Course to beef up my credentials … and kept calling. Eventually they hired me as a San Francisco-based staff writer, where that same persistence came in handy when wrangling interviews with Silicon Valley CEOs.

After nearly five years covering emerging technologies, social entrepreneurs and women in business for FC, persistence paid off again when I tried to convince the folks at ESPN The Magazine that a business and tech writer should be a sports editor. They hired me in 2005 and now I manage The Mag’s Olympics and action sports coverage. I also direct our investigative reporting efforts, many of which become multi-platform projects in cooperation with ESPN.com and the ESPN television programs E:60 and Outside The Lines.

I have a strong sense of what people and projects can become, given time, energy and the right kind of attention. Stories are messy and ideas can come from unexpected places. I try to see potential in ideas and people the same way others have seen potential in me.

I can eat a lot of junk food — and play a lot of basketball. Nothing spurs late night creativity like Cheetos and Mountain Dew (pizza and cheeseburgers work, too). On the other hand, playing hoops is a terrific stress release and a great way to meet people. Every time I’ve moved to a new city (Hong Kong, Boston, D.C., San Francisco, New York), I’ve made friends playing pick up — and I started teaching for mediabistro.com after trading elbows with Carmen Scheidel, the education director, under the boards.

I see things from other people’s point of view. My family moved from New York to Hong Kong when I was 8. My mom is originally from the Philippines, and my dad is from the U.S. Living overseas for 10 years and existing between three cultures changed the way I see people, places and societies. One of my 7th grade teachers had this phrase posted on his bulletin board: “It all depends on your point of reference.” I’ve never forgotten it.

I’m good at staying busy. In between editing stories, I write for a number of publications, teach writing and editing classes to aspiring publishing professionals, speak to college audiences and at industry events about magazine careers, and serve as a judge for the City and Regional Magazine Awards. My writing has been published in The Wall Street Journal, in Inc., Cosmopolitan, Fitness, Working Mother, VIVE, American Way, Sports Illustrated: Women and San Francisco magazines, and on LifetimeTV.com. When I’m not working, I’m at home in Brooklyn with my husband Seth and our dog Spot.