C.V. & Background

 

SUMMARY

25-YEAR JOURNALISM CAREER IN MAGAZINE, NEWSPAPER, DIGITAL, TV AND BOOK PUBLISHING (AUTHOR AND GHOSTWRITER):

+   Write, report, assign, edit, manage and coordinate media production of investigative journalism, profiles, news pieces, columns, features, sponsored editorial content, books, and more.

+    Co-create, pitch, develop and write comedy, drama, and documentary for cable TV networks, as well as write and co-host news programs for PBS, National Geographic TV & etc.

+   Create data-driven charts and sidebars, including graphs, maps, polls, info-graphics and more. Edit photos, videos, design elements and more.

+    Serve as frequent guest expert on TV, radio, cable, and digital shows, including CNN, MSNBC, NPR, PBS, NBC, MSNBC and more.

DIGITAL MEDIA DEVELOPMENT:

+    Develop and launch new brands, as well as redesign and refocus established brands, from media companies, global financial services firms, fashion and beauty brands, academia, nonprofits and more.

+    Strategically craft unique style and combination of social media tracks, creative SEO techniques and more across websites, Instagram, Pintrest, FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn, results-driven email marketing campaigns, custom communications, special programs and events and more.

+    Experienced management of top online platforms and tools for professional digital publishing, marketing, project/contact management, web analytics & etc., including CMS, HTML, Squarespace, Shopify, WordPress Business, MailChimp, Zoho CRM, Google Analytics and Keyword Planner, KISSmetrics and more.

COMMUNICATIONS:

+    More than 20 years of cultivating extensive network of sources and contacts, from distinguished industry experts and key cultural “influencers” to man-on-the-street sources.

+   Cultivate and maintain top sources in fields ranging from fashion and entertainment to business and technology to finance and law to sociology and popular culture and more.

+    Network with wide range of top industry professionals: writers, editors, graphics designers, photographers, stylists, illustrators, programmers, fact-checkers, social media managers and more.

WORK EXPERIENCE

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, DailyWorth –> 06.16-present @ New York City

• Manage all editorial operations of leading women’s financial media site (one million subscribers).
• Direct new editorial and creative brand objectives and style to increase readership/interaction.
• Conceive, assign, edit, write and publish articles; graphics.
• Manage New York-based editorial staff, reporting to Philadelphia.
• Cultivate diverse professional resources, including freelance writers, and graphics/photo/video professionals.
• Monitor Web analytics tools to report on reader interaction, popular stories/topics, ad click-thru.
• Confer, Skype, meet regularly with CEO to report on edit and business goals, performance, and budget metrics.

BOOK AUTHOR: HOUGHTON MIFFLIN; RANDOM HOUSE; WEINSTEIN BOOKS; SIMON & SCHUSTER –> 9/07-2/17 @ New York City

+ Buy, Buy Baby: How Consumer Culture Manipulates Parents and Harms Young Minds (Houghton Mifflin: 2009): “According to reporter Thomas, modern marketers believe that “the moment a baby can see clearly, she becomes a consumer.” Indeed, as investigative journalist Thomas discovered, some marketers start earlier, with an array of fetal ‘education’ gimmicks designed to broadcast music and vocabulary to the mother’s womb. Thomas interviewed a wide range of child development experts, product developers, marketing consultants and educators to write this well-researched exposé of the brave new world of American babies.” —Publishers Weekly

+ In Spite of Everything: A Memoir (Random House: 2011): “If you’ve been through the pain of a divorce or watched one at close range, you may recognize emotions here that you’ve never seen written down anywhere else. Thomas’ deeply felt prose and pitilessly intelligent self-analysis raise her story to something on the order of a generational anthem (which, as Gen X enters middle age, it sorely needs).” —Time

+ Grow Your Value: Living and Working to Your Full Potential (with Mika Brzezinski, Morning Joe co-host; Weinstein Books: 2016): “An inspiring evaluation of the potential women have to create fully productive lives at work and at home.” – Kirkus Reviews

+ Worth It: Your Life, Your Money, Your Terms (with Amanda Steinberg, DailyWorth Founder and CEO; Simon & Schuster: 2017): “Combining savvy nuts-and-bolts instruction with psychological insight smart enough to help even the most recalcitrant, Worth It is written in a warm, user-friendly tone that feels like your best girlfriend reassuring you instead of a scary math teacher yelling at you to do your homework, Money is power, and nobody can achieve real freedom without financial autonomy.” – Leslie Bennetts, The Feminine Mistake

SENIOR CONTENT MANAGER, GoalInvestor.com –> 01.13 – 06.16 @ New York City  

• Collaborated to create and develop inaugural retail site of global financial services company (SEI), with focus on brand extension and customer acquisition/retention.
• Wrote daily pieces, profiles, news items, columns and features, including sidebars, boxes, graphs & charts, info-graphics, photographs, design/illustrations
• Deployed effective SEO, social media, and audience development strategies across online brand presence, including website, FaceBook, Twitter, Instagram, online communities, and more.
• Self-directed, reporting regularly to head in Oaks, Pennsylvania.

JOURNALIST, WRITER: The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, MORE Magazine, Glamour, Marie Claire, Vogue, Real Simple, The Washington Post, TIME Magazine, MSNBC, & more   05.91 – present @ New York City

• Write and develop commissioned and pitched reported articles and essays on topics ranging from business and technology to fashion and women’s interest to socio-cultural trends and consumer news, including: investigative pieces, profiles, news items, columns and feature packages.
• Create, write, and design sidebars, boxes, graphs & charts, info-graphics, photographs, design/illustrations for online and print versions.
• Collaborate closely with top editors, art director, copy chief, graphics department and printer from the first conceptual meetings to proofing galleys.

CO-HOST AND CO-WRITER, PBS’ Digital Duo            05.98 –03.01 @ Boston

• Co-wrote and co-hosted PBS’ leading weekly technology show with co-host Steven Manes of The New York Times.
• Promoted show regularly on radio and television and attending trade shows.
• Filmed in Boston, but created and developed show independently from New York City.

SENIOR EDITOR, US News & World Report          01.96-01.01 @ New York City

• Lead news and feature writer covering business and technology for top newsweekly from the rise of the digital and dot-com revolution, interviewing top luminaries as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison, Nicholas Negroponte, Sky Dayton, George Gilder and more.
• Created and/or collaborated on all graphics and text elements, including sidebars, boxes, graphs & charts, info-graphics, photographs, design/illustrations to enhance main pieces.
• Worked closely with top editor, art director, copy chief, graphics department and printer from the first conceptual meetings to proofing galleys.
• Operated independently from New York City bureau of the Washington, DC-based magazine
• Regularly attended trade shows and appeared as on-air commentator on CNN, NPR, NBC, PBS, ABC, MSNBC and more.

SENIOR DIGITAL CONTENT PRODUCER, Time Inc. 01.94 – 01.96 @ New York City

• Founding producer of inaugural websites for Time Inc.’s flagship brands, including TIME, People, Money, Sports llustrated, InStyle, Real Simple, Martha Stewart Living, and more.
• Collaborated closely to develop and extend online brand with print editors and art directors, to ensure quality control, enhancement and enrichment of print publication brands and image.
• HTML programming, Adobe PhotoShop, Adobe Illustrator, and more.

CORRESPONDENT, The Washington Post      06.91 – 01.94 @ Washington, D.C.

• Covered technology, art, and political and popular culture for the Post’s Style section.

EDUCATION

B.A. English, Columbia University in the City of New York          Class of 1991 

Columbia College English Department Award for Critical Writing