Tanya Pampalone is still under construction.

Late Bloomer

I’ve done a few things. Mostly I’ve been a journalist. I’ve run a newsroom and a newsdesk or two. I’ve spoken at global journalism conferences, developed and run social media campaigns and created a really cool narrative podcast. I’ve written a lot of articles and personal essays and columns — two on food, one on African media, one on global investigative journalism — but have edited far more than I’ve written. Articles, series, research reports, nonprofit and corporate reports, scripts and books, across a broad spectrum of topics which have spanned the arts and travel to narrative nonfiction and corruption. I was mentioned, exactly once, in a best-selling autobiography by a super famous writer. I co-edited two books on migration and contributed to two others on journalism. (Sadly, not one of those were best-selling.) I lived in post-communist Prague, post-apartheid South Africa, dot com San Francisco and the San Fernando Valley, where I spent my formative years, and is — fun fact — home of the original Valley Girl. And I co-owned an art gallery, a clothing store, a couple of restaurants and three bars. (But that’s another story.) Now I’m trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up.

Stuff I can do pretty darn well

Full spectrum editorial production

Editorial systems and strategy

Cross-platform editorial projects

Project management

Newsroom management

Communication strategy

Stakeholder relations

Audience development

Public speaking

SEO and metric conversant

Backseat designer

Coach and mentor

Teach journalism and writing

Write and edit

Day jobs

Managing Editor, Global Investigative Journalism Network (2017 – Current)

Contributing Writer, US News & World Report (2016 – 2017)

Nonfiction Editor, Pan Macmillan South Africa (2017 – 2019)

Head of Audience Development and Strategic Partnerships, The Conversation Africa (2015 – 2016)

Executive Editor, Mail & Guardian (2008 – 2015)

Managing Editor, Maverick (2006 – 2008)

Assistant Producer, Carte Blanche (2005 – 2006)

MFA in Writing, University of San Francisco (2003-2005)

Assistant Editor, San Francisco Examiner (2001 – 2003)

Side gigs

Editorial Advisory Board Member, ReNEWS, 2020 – Present

Creator, One Night and Snake Park 2018 – 2020

Contributor, Unbias the News: Why Diversity Matters for Journalism, Hostwriter, 2019

Co-editor, I Want To Go Home Forever: Stories of Becoming and Belonging in South Africa’s Great Metropolis, Wits Press, 2018

Contributor, Southern African Muckraking: 300 Years of Investigative Journalism, Jacana, 2018 

Founding Partner, Media Hack, digital storytelling collective, Johannesburg, 2016

Lecturer, Journalism Department, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2016 – 2017

Co-producer, Artivism Rape Awareness Campaign, “SA’s Dirty Laundry,” Johannesburg, 2016

Editorial Director, Duke University’s Menell Media Exchange, Johannesburg, 2014 -16

Lecturer, Sol Plaatje Institute at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, 2011 – 2014

Winner, Creative Writing, “Confessions of a Walmart Shopper,” Standard Bank Sikuvile Awards, 2012

Master of Fine Arts: Writing, University of San Francisco, San Francisco, 2005

Media Fellow, Dewitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy, Duke University, 2013