About

Business Development | Strategy | Media Management

As a development consultant, I help create revenue streams and brand, audience, and editorial strategies for small and mid-size independent media groups.

Prior to being a consultant, I was a journalist, editor and writer. Most recently, I was the first managing editor of the Global Investigative Journalism Network. For over 15 years, I was a senior editor and newsroom manager for some of South Africa’s most respected publishing groups. I lectured on journalism for two of Africa’s top university journalism departments; spoke and moderated at international journalism conferences and training workshops; and was editorial director of what was then the largest journalism conference in South Africa, Duke University’s Menell Media Xchange.

My interest in creating diverse and equitable newsrooms led me to write the opening essay of the book Unbias the News: Why Diversity Matters for Journalism. I was also a founding board member of ReNEWS, an initiative with senior journalists from the BBC, AFP, and CNN which staged conversations about socio-cultural challenges, how they affect newsrooms, and how journalists report on them.

I have managed dozens of wide-ranging editorial projects — books, guides, stories, series, a podcast, social media, and pop-up newsrooms — for Pan Macmillan, U.S. News & World Report, the Global Investigative Journalism Network, the Mail & Guardian, and others.

My reporting coverage areas have been wide-ranging, with special interests in migration, urban development, LGBTQ issues, inequality, and the media. These include the 2010 elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; an investigation into South Africa’s public broadcaster; a profile of the most notorious AIDS denialist in San Francisco; the first same sex adoption in California; and the environmental destruction of a coal mining town in the Czech Republic.

A 2013 media fellow at Duke University, I hold an MFA in writing from the University of San Francisco and a BA in journalism from San Diego State University. More recently, I completed coursework with CUNY’s Craig Newmark Journalism School’s Product Immersion course and Candid’s introduction to fundraising.

Skills

Work Experience

Business Development Lead, Media Hack Collective, Johannesburg/San Francisco (2022 – Present)

Business Development, Consultant, Daily Maverick, Johannesburg/San Francisco (2022 – Present)

Business Development and Fundraising, Consultant, Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism, Johannesburg/San Francisco (2022 – Present)

Business Development and Fundraising, Consultant, Johannesburg/San Francisco, Alibi Investigations (2022)

Managing Editor, Global Investigative Journalism Network, Johannesburg/San Francisco (2017 – 2021)

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

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

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

Executive Editor, Mail & Guardian, , Johannesburg (2008 – 2015)

Managing Editor, Maverick, Johannesburg (2006 – 2008)

Assistant Producer, Carte Blanche, Johannesburg (2005 – 2006)

Reporter/Assistant Editor, San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco (2004 – 2005)

Stringer, Agence France-Presse, San Francisco (2001)

Editor, Travelocity, San Francisco (1999 – 2001)

Freelance Writer/Researcher, Los Angeles/Johannesburg (1994 – 1999)

Assistant Editor, Buzz, Los Angeles (1994 – 1995)

Freelance Writer, Prague (1992 – 1994)

Additional Roles

Editorial Advisory Board Member, ReNEWS, 2020 – Present

Creator, One Night in Snake Park, 2018 – 2020

Founding Partner, Media Hack Collective, 2017

Editorial Director, Duke University’s Menell Media Exchange, 2014 – 2016

Books

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

Co-editor, Writing Invisibility: Conversations on the Hidden City, Mail & Guardian, 2013

Teaching

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

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

Education & Awards

Taco Kuiper Investigative Journalism Grantee, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2019

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

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

Finalist, Feature Writing, “In a Dainfern State of Mind,” Standard Bank Sikuvile Awards, 2012

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

Bachelor of Arts: Journalism, San Diego State University, San Diego