I am an award-winning and entrepreneurial narrative journalist with more than 25 years of experience. I focus on telling character-driven stories of how people, companies, and communities adapt as the world around them changes. I started as a classic notebook-and-pen reporter, but I now also tell stories with audio (This American Life), video, interactive infographics, you name it. I help develop new lines of business and conceive of new platforms, such as “live narratives”--a unique format in which I bring deeply reported stories to life on stage with my sources.
The innovative business magazine Fast Company (12M+ readers online) has been my professional base since 1998. For 15 years, I reported and wrote in-depth cover and feature stories about some of the biggest names in business, technology, and non-profits in the U.S. and abroad and helped produce the magazine’s annual “Most Innovative Companies,” "Most Creative People," and "Masters of Design" issues. I contributed features to the winning entries when Fast Company won ASME awards for General Excellence in 1999 and Magazine of the Year in 2014.
In recent years, I've created and produced events and online video series; overseen the creation of a third-party tech site with 1M+ readers; researched and written the treatment for an eight-part documentary TV series; and launched an e-book platform and a new content studio. I'm a frequent emcee, moderator, and speaker on innovation and creativity at conferences.
My work has appeared on This American Life and in the New York Times Magazine, The New York Times, and Sports Illustrated, and in more than two dozen newspapers, including The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, and The Baltimore Sun.
I grew up in the field, as the son of newspaper journalists. I started out at The News & Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina, where I spent eight years as an enterprise feature writer. I chronicled the struggles and successes of CEOs, scientists, migrant workers, Civil Rights pioneers, astronauts, gun owners, athletes (including Michael Jordan), and others in long-form stories for A1, the Sunday fronts and other sections of the paper.
