Experience
Senior curator, TED. I recruit and shepherd speakers to the TED mainstage. I also supervise the teams supporting current and past speakers, and work with TED’s partnerships team to curate and host events that help pay for the whole thing. From 2016-19, I launched and led the TED Residency, an interdisciplinary 14-week program that fostered collaboration and mutual support. In 2019, we incubated the Healthy Internet Project, now a program on its own. I’ve attended TED since 1994.
Digital- and media-strategy consultant / board member / adviser. Clients have included Acumen, Yahoo, National Geographic, Medpage Today, digital newsstand Magzter, and Etsy.
1/14 to 6/15 • Senior vice president, Tina Brown Live Media. Managed company’s transition from its roots at The Daily Beast to The New York Times Co. Supervised reboot of Women in the World as a digital channel on nytimes.com, along with more than a dozen live-journalism events, including the three-day Women in the World Summit at Lincoln Center.
1/09 to 5/14 • Adjunct professor, Columbia School of Journalism. Taught a digital-magazine workshop and advised on master’s theses. Programmed spring 2011 Delacorte Lectures on Magazine Journalism.
6/13 to 1/14 • Editor-in-chief, AOL.com. Recruited to strengthen the site’s journalistic standing. Tenure curtailed due to AOL’s ongoing executive reshuffling and business-strategy changes.
11/11 to 5/13 • Editor-in-chief, Columbia Journalism Review. Led update of the 50-year-old print magazine and its website. Won a 2013 MIN Best of the Web award.
1/11 to 4/11 • Development editor, Time Inc. Style & Entertainment Group, working on mobile apps (for Entertainment Weekly and Essence), content strategy, and digital-skills training.
6/08 to 1/11 • Managing editor, EW.com, the website of Entertainment Weekly. During my stint, the site doubled its audience and received more than a half dozen industry awards. EW.com also won Time Inc.’s Luce Award (the in-house Oscars) for Website of the Year in 2011.
12/07 to 5/08 • Media consultant. Worked on development of Time Inc.’s PeoplePets.com and acquisition of Celebrity Baby Blog for People.com. Advised Waterfront Media on extension of the Everyday Health brand.
11/06 to 11/07 • CEO, Blue Egg, an e-media company devoted to eco-friendly living. Launched two websites and a video-rich mini-site chronicling the Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon.
5/05 to 11/06 • Executive vice president, office of the president, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Supervised the 11/05 launch of Martha Stewart’s 24-hour channel on Sirius Satellite Radio (now SiriusXM). Set up a framework for international development and explored other new business, working closely with CEO Susan Lyne.
5/95 to 5/05 • President and editorial director, Time Out New York. Oversaw all aspects of the weekly magazine, website, and guidebooks after serving as founding editor-in-chief. Raised capital for and led launches of Time Out Chicago and of print/online hybrid Time Out New York Kids. Received four National Magazine Award nominations (two for General Excellence). In 2000, won GLAAD Media Award for Best Overall Magazine Coverage and named one of five Editors to Watch by Columbia Journalism Review.
Formative Years
- Deputy editor, Premiere, under editor Susan Lyne. Launched the title on CompuServe (4/91 to 5/95)
- Writer and host of FLIX, a weekly movie-preview show on cable channel VH1 (10/92 to 3/93)
- Senior writer/European correspondent, Premiere, based in Brussels (10/89 to 4/91)
- Contributing editor, Condé Nast Traveler. Wrote Word of Mouth column through 12/93 (1/89 to 5/10)
- Editor-at-large, Self, under editor Anthea Disney (1/89 to 12/89)
- Entertainment editor, US, from the time of Jann Wenner’s purchase (5/85 to 1/89)
- Staff writer, Vanity Fair, under editor Tina Brown (2/84 to 5/85)
- Entertainment editor and columnist, Clay Felker’s East Side Express (10/83 to 2/84)
- Entertainment reporter, LIFE, under managing editor Dick Stolley (3/82 to 10/83)
- Media columnist, Soho News (11/81 to 3/82)
- Reporter, New York Daily News Manhattan section, under editor Clay Felker (8/80 to 8/81)
- Stringer, The New York Times; wrote for news, education, and New Jersey desks (9/76 to 5/77)
- Copyperson, then general-assignment reporter, then Page Six editor, New York Post (5/76 to 8/80)
- Summer general-assignment reporter, Ridgewood (NJ) News (5/75 to 9/75).
Plus…
Speaker and moderator: TED Conference, Digital Content Next Summit, Singularity University NYC, Out Leadership OutNEXT Global Summit, DLD and DLDnyc, the Athena Film Festival, Internet Week NY, Social Media Week, 140 Characters Conference, the Interactive Media Conference, DIY Days, the Columbia Publishing Course, New York University’s Summer Publishing Course, the Stanford University Professional Publishing Course, and MPA/ASME seminars and conferences. Hosted The Moth storytelling performances at Barnard College 2010–15.
Mentor: Springboard Enterprises (2014–present) | Time Inc. Emerging Professional Mentoring Program (2010–11) | Asian American Journalists Association Executive Leadership Program (2004–05)
Boards
Barnard College Board of Trustees (2005–2019; co-chair, Committee on Governance) | HYPOTHEkids (2016–present) | KAVI / Kings Against Violence Initiative (2016–present) | ASME (Editorial Council, 2008–2015; board member 1996–2004; president 2001–02) | Board of Advisors, Center for Publishing, NYU (2006–11) | Adviser, iCurrent (2008–10) | School of Visual Arts Foundation (2004–11) | IFP, the Independent Filmmaker Project (2006–09) | Consumer Reports WebWatch Advisory Board (2001–08) | Advisory Board, ArtCenter College of Design conference, Pasadena, CA (2002–08) | Mediabistro (2004–07) | MPA (1998–2005; co-chair, diversity 2004–05) | Alumnae Association of Barnard College (communications chair 1997–2000; reunion chair 2001–04)
Adviser: Report for America (2017–present) | Ocean Collectiv (2017–present) | Litterati (2017–present) | Miracle Messages (2017–present)
Awards
Forty Women to Watch Over 40 | Alumnae Association of Barnard College Woman of Achievement (2013) | Council of Independent Colleges and Universities New York State Alumni Hall of Fame (2005) | Police Athletic League Woman of the Year (2004)
Education
B.A., Barnard College, cum laude, honors in English. Three scholarships, including Society of the Daughters of Holland Dames, for descendants of the early Dutch settlers of New York.
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