Fortune
Crashing the Billionaire Boys' Club
DECEMBER 2021/JANUARY 2022 (Cover Story)
“It’s really important when you have these large exits, because it creates an ecosystem not only of talent, but also of wealth.” But can the breakout IPOs and M&A for a handful of female-founded companies—including Bumble, Spanx, and 23andMe—start to change the breathtakingly inequitable VC-backed startup ecosystem? Finalist for the 2022 Deadline Club award for business feature reporting.
The U.S. Women's Employment Crisis
2021
My reporting on the pandemic's devastating economic impact on U.S. women led to product changes at LinkedIn; broke news on Amazon's unprecedented internal effort to rehire working mothers; analyzed public-policy and private-sector efforts to address the crisis; and dove deep into the broken childcare industry with this August 2021 feature: "Is 'Big Day Care' the solution to America's childcare woes--or is it risky to mix profits and toddlers?"
Female Founders Under Fire
DECEMBER 2020/JANUARY 2021
From the Wing to Outdoor Voices to Away, the ranks of powerful women who have been forced to step back at the companies they created continue to grow. Are women in the startup world being unfairly targeted? Winner of the 2021 Silurians Press Club award for business and financial reporting.
The Risky Business of Breast Implants
JUNE/JULY 2020
My feature investigation into the 36 deaths caused by breast implants--and the decades of regulatory, medical, and business decisions that have endangered potentially millions of women--resulted in FDA action against pharmaceutical company Allergan. Winner of the Society of Professional Journalists' 2020 Sigma Delta Chi award for public service in magazine journalism; SABEW's 2020 award for health/science reporting; NYSSCPA's 2021 Excellence in Financial Journalism award for public service; and a 2021 National Headliner award for magazine coverage.
The Coronavirus Ventilator Crisis
MARCH/APRIL 2020
In the early weeks of the U.S. COVID-19 pandemic, I reported on the shortages of ventilators and the trained workers to operate them, and profiled Ford's efforts to turn its idle automotive plants into emergency medical-device factories.
Siri, Did I Ace the Job Interview?
FEBRUARY 2020
“We may not have proof of bias. We also don’t have proof of benevolence." As part of Fortune's A.I. cover package, I reported on why employers are embracing robo-hiring and automated HR—solving some problems, and creating many others.
Inc.
Pioneer Woman
OCTOBER 2019
A profile of D'Artagnan CEO Ariane Daguin, who spent 35 years changing the way Americans eat--and running headlong into the foie gras wars.
A Saudi Saga
MARCH/APRIL 2019
Why the women behind New York fitness boutique Physique 57 brought their Manhattan business to Saudi Arabia--at a time of great change, and even greater international scrutiny for American companies doing business there.
The Unlikely Business of Being Brené
OCTOBER 2018 (Cover Story)
A profile of author, researcher, and celebrity leadership guru Brené Brown.
Wawa All The Way
JUNE 2018
54 years old. $10 billion in revenue. This family-owned cult convenience store is rapidly expanding--and ditching gas and cigarettes for kale salads and nerdy coffee.
Mail Champ
DECEMBER 2017 (Cover Story)
A profile of MailChimp CEO Ben Chestnut.
The Woman Who Broke the Code
OCTOBER 2017
Amid Silicon Valley's rampant sexism and misogyny, one tech founder has quietly built her company into a software disrupter, and one of the rare recently-successful tech IPOs. A profile of BlackLine CEO Therese Tucker. Finalist for SABEW's 2017 "Best in Business" award for feature writing.
Flying High
MAY 2017
Can a 58-year-old former insurance executive build the first national marijuana brand? A profile of the woman running the most successful edibles business in Colorado, with an analysis of the much-heralded opportunities--and risks--for the "Ladies of Legal Weed."
Cracking China
NOVEMBER 2016
The founders of smartphone games studio Dots have spent years trying to break into China's lucrative, maddening, $8.3 billion market. Why can't they--or almost any other successful U.S. tech company--succeed?
The Launch Squad
APRIL 2016 (Cover Story)
A profile of Stripe founders and brothers Patrick and John Collison.
Interviews with: Jack Ma, Sheryl Sandberg, Geena Davis, Christina Tosi, Max Levchin, Sallie Krawcheck, and Mark Cuban (whose answers went viral).
The New York Times
How Sticky Is Membership on Facebook? Just Try Breaking Free
Don’t Open This Cookie (Disastrous Day Inside)
TV Is Now Interactive, Minus Images, on the Web
Los Angeles Times
Op-Ed: Transgressive casting? Forget Hollywood. Look to the stage.
Village Voice
Will There Ever Be an Oscar for a History of the Mercury 13?
Some favorite Lady Business issues:
-Traveling alone while female--with money, and without (Apr. 4, 2019)
-Reporting from Saudi Arabia, and what happens when unwritten rules change (Feb. 21, 2019)
-Millennials vs. the very old men running Victoria's Secret (Dec. 6, 2018)
-Pearl-clutching over Aretha Franklin's financial legacy (Aug. 30, 2018)
-The problems with Wikipedia, as demonstrated by Oprah Winfrey's entry (Aug. 2, 2018)
-The many women who spied, fought and died during World War II, yet never make it into the Dunkirks and Saving Private Ryans (Nov. 9, 2017)
American Banker
Courthouse 'Rocket Dockets' Give Debt Collectors Edge Over Debtors
FEB 12, 2014
A feature-length investigation that caused Maryland's courts to change some of their procedures for handling debt-collection cases.
Follow-up: State Courts Join Widening Debt-Collection Crackdown
Chase Halts Card Debt Sales Ahead of Crackdown
JUL 1, 2013
We broke the news of changes in JPMorgan Chase’s credit card collections operations, as the country’s biggest bank braced for a regulatory action. Finalist for SABEW's 2013 “Best in Business” award for breaking news.
How Promontory Financial Became Banking's Shadow Regulator
MAR 15, 2013
What New York Magazine called a “blockbuster profile” of former banking regulator Gene Ludwig, and how he built a consulting firm that most effectively spins the Wall Street-Washington revolving door. Finalist for a 2013 SABEW for best explanatory magazine writing and finalist for a 2013 Jesse H. Neal award for best profile.
Citigroup Boys' Club Highlights Industry Gender Gap
JAN 11, 2013
The all-male executive lineup at the country’s third-largest bank reflects the depressingly persistent lack of gender diversity in the financial services industry. That’s increasingly becoming a business problem.
Borrower Beware: B of A Customer Repaid Her Bill Yet Faced a Collections Nightmare
MAR 29, 2012
Karen Stevens spent three years fending off debt collectors, for a bill she had already repaid in full. Her story illustrates how banks’ haphazard record-keeping can amplify problems in the debt collection industry. Winner of a 2012 SABEW "Best in Business" award for investigative reporting.
Crashing the Billionaire Boys' Club
DECEMBER 2021/JANUARY 2022 (Cover Story)
“It’s really important when you have these large exits, because it creates an ecosystem not only of talent, but also of wealth.” But can the breakout IPOs and M&A for a handful of female-founded companies—including Bumble, Spanx, and 23andMe—start to change the breathtakingly inequitable VC-backed startup ecosystem? Finalist for the 2022 Deadline Club award for business feature reporting.
The U.S. Women's Employment Crisis
2021
My reporting on the pandemic's devastating economic impact on U.S. women led to product changes at LinkedIn; broke news on Amazon's unprecedented internal effort to rehire working mothers; analyzed public-policy and private-sector efforts to address the crisis; and dove deep into the broken childcare industry with this August 2021 feature: "Is 'Big Day Care' the solution to America's childcare woes--or is it risky to mix profits and toddlers?"
Female Founders Under Fire
DECEMBER 2020/JANUARY 2021
From the Wing to Outdoor Voices to Away, the ranks of powerful women who have been forced to step back at the companies they created continue to grow. Are women in the startup world being unfairly targeted? Winner of the 2021 Silurians Press Club award for business and financial reporting.
The Risky Business of Breast Implants
JUNE/JULY 2020
My feature investigation into the 36 deaths caused by breast implants--and the decades of regulatory, medical, and business decisions that have endangered potentially millions of women--resulted in FDA action against pharmaceutical company Allergan. Winner of the Society of Professional Journalists' 2020 Sigma Delta Chi award for public service in magazine journalism; SABEW's 2020 award for health/science reporting; NYSSCPA's 2021 Excellence in Financial Journalism award for public service; and a 2021 National Headliner award for magazine coverage.
The Coronavirus Ventilator Crisis
MARCH/APRIL 2020
In the early weeks of the U.S. COVID-19 pandemic, I reported on the shortages of ventilators and the trained workers to operate them, and profiled Ford's efforts to turn its idle automotive plants into emergency medical-device factories.
Siri, Did I Ace the Job Interview?
FEBRUARY 2020
“We may not have proof of bias. We also don’t have proof of benevolence." As part of Fortune's A.I. cover package, I reported on why employers are embracing robo-hiring and automated HR—solving some problems, and creating many others.
Inc.
Pioneer Woman
OCTOBER 2019
A profile of D'Artagnan CEO Ariane Daguin, who spent 35 years changing the way Americans eat--and running headlong into the foie gras wars.
A Saudi Saga
MARCH/APRIL 2019
Why the women behind New York fitness boutique Physique 57 brought their Manhattan business to Saudi Arabia--at a time of great change, and even greater international scrutiny for American companies doing business there.
The Unlikely Business of Being Brené
OCTOBER 2018 (Cover Story)
A profile of author, researcher, and celebrity leadership guru Brené Brown.
Wawa All The Way
JUNE 2018
54 years old. $10 billion in revenue. This family-owned cult convenience store is rapidly expanding--and ditching gas and cigarettes for kale salads and nerdy coffee.
Mail Champ
DECEMBER 2017 (Cover Story)
A profile of MailChimp CEO Ben Chestnut.
The Woman Who Broke the Code
OCTOBER 2017
Amid Silicon Valley's rampant sexism and misogyny, one tech founder has quietly built her company into a software disrupter, and one of the rare recently-successful tech IPOs. A profile of BlackLine CEO Therese Tucker. Finalist for SABEW's 2017 "Best in Business" award for feature writing.
Flying High
MAY 2017
Can a 58-year-old former insurance executive build the first national marijuana brand? A profile of the woman running the most successful edibles business in Colorado, with an analysis of the much-heralded opportunities--and risks--for the "Ladies of Legal Weed."
Cracking China
NOVEMBER 2016
The founders of smartphone games studio Dots have spent years trying to break into China's lucrative, maddening, $8.3 billion market. Why can't they--or almost any other successful U.S. tech company--succeed?
The Launch Squad
APRIL 2016 (Cover Story)
A profile of Stripe founders and brothers Patrick and John Collison.
Interviews with: Jack Ma, Sheryl Sandberg, Geena Davis, Christina Tosi, Max Levchin, Sallie Krawcheck, and Mark Cuban (whose answers went viral).
The New York Times
How Sticky Is Membership on Facebook? Just Try Breaking Free
Don’t Open This Cookie (Disastrous Day Inside)
TV Is Now Interactive, Minus Images, on the Web
Los Angeles Times
Op-Ed: Transgressive casting? Forget Hollywood. Look to the stage.
Village Voice
Will There Ever Be an Oscar for a History of the Mercury 13?
Some favorite Lady Business issues:
-Traveling alone while female--with money, and without (Apr. 4, 2019)
-Reporting from Saudi Arabia, and what happens when unwritten rules change (Feb. 21, 2019)
-Millennials vs. the very old men running Victoria's Secret (Dec. 6, 2018)
-Pearl-clutching over Aretha Franklin's financial legacy (Aug. 30, 2018)
-The problems with Wikipedia, as demonstrated by Oprah Winfrey's entry (Aug. 2, 2018)
-The many women who spied, fought and died during World War II, yet never make it into the Dunkirks and Saving Private Ryans (Nov. 9, 2017)
American Banker
Courthouse 'Rocket Dockets' Give Debt Collectors Edge Over Debtors
FEB 12, 2014
A feature-length investigation that caused Maryland's courts to change some of their procedures for handling debt-collection cases.
Follow-up: State Courts Join Widening Debt-Collection Crackdown
Chase Halts Card Debt Sales Ahead of Crackdown
JUL 1, 2013
We broke the news of changes in JPMorgan Chase’s credit card collections operations, as the country’s biggest bank braced for a regulatory action. Finalist for SABEW's 2013 “Best in Business” award for breaking news.
How Promontory Financial Became Banking's Shadow Regulator
MAR 15, 2013
What New York Magazine called a “blockbuster profile” of former banking regulator Gene Ludwig, and how he built a consulting firm that most effectively spins the Wall Street-Washington revolving door. Finalist for a 2013 SABEW for best explanatory magazine writing and finalist for a 2013 Jesse H. Neal award for best profile.
Citigroup Boys' Club Highlights Industry Gender Gap
JAN 11, 2013
The all-male executive lineup at the country’s third-largest bank reflects the depressingly persistent lack of gender diversity in the financial services industry. That’s increasingly becoming a business problem.
Borrower Beware: B of A Customer Repaid Her Bill Yet Faced a Collections Nightmare
MAR 29, 2012
Karen Stevens spent three years fending off debt collectors, for a bill she had already repaid in full. Her story illustrates how banks’ haphazard record-keeping can amplify problems in the debt collection industry. Winner of a 2012 SABEW "Best in Business" award for investigative reporting.