Inc.
Features
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, and how she's navigated the minefields of her fast-growing, federally-illegal industry. Includes 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? Followed, in July 2017, by my feature interview with Alibaba executive chairman Jack Ma.
The Launch Squad (April 2016 Cover Story)
APRIL 2016
A profile of brothers Patrick and John Collison, the founders of $5 billion payments startup Stripe, and their "techno-utopian" ambitions to try to change the world.
The Answer Man
FEBRUARY 2016
NerdWallet founder Tim Chen wants to bring more transparency to personal finance--if his company can survive his sometimes-anguished quest for the right answers.
Fintech Finally Lifts Off
SEPTEMBER 2015
After years of toiling in obscurity, financial startups had a breakout year in 2015. This feature considered the triumphs of--and remaining challenges for--the likes of Lending Club, Prosper, Kabbage and Affirm.
News & Analysis
Trump's Plan to Repeal Dodd-Frank Won't Help Small Businesses
NOV 22, 2016
What the numbers and the experts say about one of Trump's policy promises: Dodd-Frank is not the main reason business owners can't get a loan, and repealing it won't fix much.
Why Every Woman Should Thank Hillary Clinton
OCT 10, 2016
"This is not about politics or parties. It's about table stakes. It's about the reality for any woman who wants power, and all of the ugliness she must ignore or somehow overcome to succeed."
The True Cost of Failing While Female
NOV 23, 2015
Failure is the new success--as long as you're male and white. No matter the industry, the relative dearth of women in leadership positions means that for every woman who fails, the narrative is all too often "All Women Can't Do This" instead of "This Person Couldn't Do This."
The Limits of the Ellen Pao Silver Lining
MAR 30, 2015
Pao's landmark lawsuit against her former employer, venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, raised awareness of workplace sexism and its pervasiveness in Silicon Valley. But it's hard not to see her court loss as a larger setback.
The Case Against Apple Pay
SEP 11, 2014
"You can sell consumers any new kind of technology (or new ballad-rock album, for that matter) if you wrap it up with something they already love and plan to buy. But you can’t control how they use it, if they use it, or indeed if they can use it." Breaking down the hype about Apple's mobile wallet--and all of the barriers it has to overcome to actually make a difference in how we pay for things.
Mark Cuban, Post-Sterling, on Combating Racism: 'We All Have Our Bigotry'
MAY 21, 2014
"If I see a black kid in a hoodie and it’s late at night, I’m walking to the other side of the street. ... While we all have our prejudices and bigotries, we have to learn that it’s an issue that we have to control." -- Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks. My first big interview for Inc. went viral and sparked a national conversation about racism in business and in professional sports, particularly in the wake of the NBA's decision to ban Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling over his racist comments.
Los Angeles Times
Op-Ed: Transgressive casting? Forget Hollywood. Look to the stage.
JUL 16, 2016
"Theater in general is having a much-lauded era of deliberately transgressive casting... So why is this still a debate for Hollywood?" A Ghostbusters-inspired rant.
Village Voice
Will There Ever Be an Oscar for a History of the Mercury 13?
JAN 24, 2017
The mathematician heroines of Hidden Figures weren't the only women long omitted from the popular histories of America's early space program--there were 13 almost-astronauts, too. A plea for Hollywood to finally abandon Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff, and its infuriatingly limited template for stories about NASA and its heroes.
American Banker
Courthouse 'Rocket Dockets' Give Debt Collectors Edge Over Debtors
FEB 12, 2014
Judges around the country are turning over their courtrooms to banks and debt collectors, trying to manage a flood of debt-collection lawsuits, even as the basis for some of the suits has been called into question. A feature-length investigation that caused Maryland's courts to change some of their procedures for handling debt-collection cases and that has since been officially cited by state officials, regulators, consumer advocates and other media.
Follow-up: State Courts Join Widening Debt-Collection Crackdown, MAY 8, 2014
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. Part of American Banker’s award-winning coverage of the debt-collection industry, and a finalist for a 2013 “Best in Business” award for breaking news from the Society of American Editors and Writers (SABEW).
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 "Best in Business" award for investigative reporting from SABEW.
The New York Times
How Sticky Is Membership on Facebook? Just Try Breaking Free
FEB 11, 2008
As a freelance tech contributor, I broke the story about Facebook’s lack of a “delete account” button for users who wanted to leave. Two days later, Facebook installed one.
Don’t Open This Cookie (Disastrous Day Inside)
OCT 8, 2007
“Today is a disastrous day. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.” This article, about the offbeat platitudes one Chinese cookie-maker was sticking inside its fortune cookies, wound up inspiring a “Bluff the Listener” segment on “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me.” Which is probably still my biggest accomplishment in my family’s eyes.
TV Is Now Interactive, Minus Images, on the Web
JUL 8, 2006
Remember those pre-Twitter days of watching television, when TV writers didn’t always have to interact directly with their fans – or their critics? For a Culture section-front story, I interviewed the creators of Battlestar Galactica, Veronica Mars and The Closer as they were figuring out how much – and how carefully – to respond to the increasingly influential online communities springing up around their shows.
The Billfold
Souvenirs I Did Not Buy in Italy
OCT 22, 2013
I could easily describe my excellent Italian vacation in terms of the cathedrals visited, cliffs climbed, wine guzzled or carbs consumed, but wouldn’t you rather hear about the horsemeat and the bizarre sexual harassment?
Things I’ve Gotten for Free at Airport Clubs
JUL 24, 2013
I travel enough to reach a status I’ll call frequent-flier-minus—not quite enough to get free upgrades or even those coach seats with better legroom, but often enough to be wistfully aware of the Up in the Air luxury happening all around me. Recently, though, I’ve stumbled into one corner of the true frequent-flier life: I’ve been invited into the airport clubs. Here's what I found.
Movieline
Hunger Game-Changer: How Suzanne Collins Made the Most of Hollywood's Young-Adult Obsession
MAR 22, 2012
How the authors behind the Hunger Games, Harry Potter and Twilight movie franchises managed to retain control over their books’ movie adaptations, in contrast to the cautionary tales of other young-adult series, including Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials and Susan Cooper’s Dark is Rising.
4 Can't-Miss Tips For Making a Successful Time-Travel Film
MAY 25, 2012
I’m a sucker for a good time-travel story. I’m also a sucker for a mediocre time-travel story with a stylish veneer or a sense of humor. Here’s my ode to everything temporal displacement-related, from Terminator and Star Trek to Twelve Monkeys and Connie Willis.
Features
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, and how she's navigated the minefields of her fast-growing, federally-illegal industry. Includes 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? Followed, in July 2017, by my feature interview with Alibaba executive chairman Jack Ma.
The Launch Squad (April 2016 Cover Story)
APRIL 2016
A profile of brothers Patrick and John Collison, the founders of $5 billion payments startup Stripe, and their "techno-utopian" ambitions to try to change the world.
The Answer Man
FEBRUARY 2016
NerdWallet founder Tim Chen wants to bring more transparency to personal finance--if his company can survive his sometimes-anguished quest for the right answers.
Fintech Finally Lifts Off
SEPTEMBER 2015
After years of toiling in obscurity, financial startups had a breakout year in 2015. This feature considered the triumphs of--and remaining challenges for--the likes of Lending Club, Prosper, Kabbage and Affirm.
News & Analysis
Trump's Plan to Repeal Dodd-Frank Won't Help Small Businesses
NOV 22, 2016
What the numbers and the experts say about one of Trump's policy promises: Dodd-Frank is not the main reason business owners can't get a loan, and repealing it won't fix much.
Why Every Woman Should Thank Hillary Clinton
OCT 10, 2016
"This is not about politics or parties. It's about table stakes. It's about the reality for any woman who wants power, and all of the ugliness she must ignore or somehow overcome to succeed."
The True Cost of Failing While Female
NOV 23, 2015
Failure is the new success--as long as you're male and white. No matter the industry, the relative dearth of women in leadership positions means that for every woman who fails, the narrative is all too often "All Women Can't Do This" instead of "This Person Couldn't Do This."
The Limits of the Ellen Pao Silver Lining
MAR 30, 2015
Pao's landmark lawsuit against her former employer, venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, raised awareness of workplace sexism and its pervasiveness in Silicon Valley. But it's hard not to see her court loss as a larger setback.
The Case Against Apple Pay
SEP 11, 2014
"You can sell consumers any new kind of technology (or new ballad-rock album, for that matter) if you wrap it up with something they already love and plan to buy. But you can’t control how they use it, if they use it, or indeed if they can use it." Breaking down the hype about Apple's mobile wallet--and all of the barriers it has to overcome to actually make a difference in how we pay for things.
Mark Cuban, Post-Sterling, on Combating Racism: 'We All Have Our Bigotry'
MAY 21, 2014
"If I see a black kid in a hoodie and it’s late at night, I’m walking to the other side of the street. ... While we all have our prejudices and bigotries, we have to learn that it’s an issue that we have to control." -- Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks. My first big interview for Inc. went viral and sparked a national conversation about racism in business and in professional sports, particularly in the wake of the NBA's decision to ban Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling over his racist comments.
Los Angeles Times
Op-Ed: Transgressive casting? Forget Hollywood. Look to the stage.
JUL 16, 2016
"Theater in general is having a much-lauded era of deliberately transgressive casting... So why is this still a debate for Hollywood?" A Ghostbusters-inspired rant.
Village Voice
Will There Ever Be an Oscar for a History of the Mercury 13?
JAN 24, 2017
The mathematician heroines of Hidden Figures weren't the only women long omitted from the popular histories of America's early space program--there were 13 almost-astronauts, too. A plea for Hollywood to finally abandon Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff, and its infuriatingly limited template for stories about NASA and its heroes.
American Banker
Courthouse 'Rocket Dockets' Give Debt Collectors Edge Over Debtors
FEB 12, 2014
Judges around the country are turning over their courtrooms to banks and debt collectors, trying to manage a flood of debt-collection lawsuits, even as the basis for some of the suits has been called into question. A feature-length investigation that caused Maryland's courts to change some of their procedures for handling debt-collection cases and that has since been officially cited by state officials, regulators, consumer advocates and other media.
Follow-up: State Courts Join Widening Debt-Collection Crackdown, MAY 8, 2014
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. Part of American Banker’s award-winning coverage of the debt-collection industry, and a finalist for a 2013 “Best in Business” award for breaking news from the Society of American Editors and Writers (SABEW).
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 "Best in Business" award for investigative reporting from SABEW.
The New York Times
How Sticky Is Membership on Facebook? Just Try Breaking Free
FEB 11, 2008
As a freelance tech contributor, I broke the story about Facebook’s lack of a “delete account” button for users who wanted to leave. Two days later, Facebook installed one.
Don’t Open This Cookie (Disastrous Day Inside)
OCT 8, 2007
“Today is a disastrous day. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.” This article, about the offbeat platitudes one Chinese cookie-maker was sticking inside its fortune cookies, wound up inspiring a “Bluff the Listener” segment on “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me.” Which is probably still my biggest accomplishment in my family’s eyes.
TV Is Now Interactive, Minus Images, on the Web
JUL 8, 2006
Remember those pre-Twitter days of watching television, when TV writers didn’t always have to interact directly with their fans – or their critics? For a Culture section-front story, I interviewed the creators of Battlestar Galactica, Veronica Mars and The Closer as they were figuring out how much – and how carefully – to respond to the increasingly influential online communities springing up around their shows.
The Billfold
Souvenirs I Did Not Buy in Italy
OCT 22, 2013
I could easily describe my excellent Italian vacation in terms of the cathedrals visited, cliffs climbed, wine guzzled or carbs consumed, but wouldn’t you rather hear about the horsemeat and the bizarre sexual harassment?
Things I’ve Gotten for Free at Airport Clubs
JUL 24, 2013
I travel enough to reach a status I’ll call frequent-flier-minus—not quite enough to get free upgrades or even those coach seats with better legroom, but often enough to be wistfully aware of the Up in the Air luxury happening all around me. Recently, though, I’ve stumbled into one corner of the true frequent-flier life: I’ve been invited into the airport clubs. Here's what I found.
Movieline
Hunger Game-Changer: How Suzanne Collins Made the Most of Hollywood's Young-Adult Obsession
MAR 22, 2012
How the authors behind the Hunger Games, Harry Potter and Twilight movie franchises managed to retain control over their books’ movie adaptations, in contrast to the cautionary tales of other young-adult series, including Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials and Susan Cooper’s Dark is Rising.
4 Can't-Miss Tips For Making a Successful Time-Travel Film
MAY 25, 2012
I’m a sucker for a good time-travel story. I’m also a sucker for a mediocre time-travel story with a stylish veneer or a sense of humor. Here’s my ode to everything temporal displacement-related, from Terminator and Star Trek to Twelve Monkeys and Connie Willis.
