I'm the Executive Editor of Reasons to be Cheerful, an online magazine about solutions that I launched with David Byrne in 2019.
My work has appeared in The Guardian, Foreign Policy, New York, Men's Journal, Salon, The Daily Beast, South China Morning Post, The Bangkok Post and elsewhere. For a few years I was a recurring guest on NPR's Talk of the Nation. My book, High-Speed Empire: Chinese Expansion and the Future of Southeast Asia, was published in 2018.
Before that, I was part of the team that launched The Daily Beast with editor Tina Brown. I've also served as international editor at Next City and editor-in-chief at Nerve. I created Salon's "Dream City" column, and have taught journalism seminars for graduate students at The New School in New York.
In addition to writing and teaching, I've often worked with think tanks and NGOs, including The Rockefeller Foundation, the Asia Society and USAID. In 2014, I co-produced a series of short documentaries in Bangkok and Baltimore.
I live in New York City.
